Sexual Harassment Lawyers in Glendale
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California Law Covers Your Situation, Here Is What You Need to Know First
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) makes sexual harassment unlawful for every employer in the state, with no minimum employee count. Under Government Code § 12940(j)(1), the prohibition extends to employees, applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and independent contractors. A single incident can be legally sufficient to establish a claim under Government Code § 12923. Workers in the Glendale area have three years from the last act of harassment to file with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). That clock is running. Missing it forecloses a private civil lawsuit.
What California Law Defines as Sexual Harassment
Harassment Because of Sex Under FEHA (Gov. Code § 12940)
FEHA prohibits harassment because of sex, gender, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Critically, Government Code § 12940(j)(4)(C) states explicitly that sexually harassing conduct need not be motivated by sexual desire. Gender-based hostility, a supervisor who demeans women employees, for example, qualifies. This is broader than what many workers assume. The law covers the full range of workers in the employment relationship: employees, applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and persons providing services under a contract.
What Makes Conduct “Severe or Pervasive”, California’s Lower Bar
Under Government Code § 12923, harassment creates an actionable hostile work environment when the conduct sufficiently offends, humiliates, distresses, or intrudes upon a victim so as to disrupt the victim’s emotional tranquility, affect the victim’s ability to perform the job as usual, or otherwise interfere with and undermine the victim’s work performance. California sets a deliberately lower bar than federal law. A single incident of harassing conduct is sufficient to create a triable issue regarding a hostile work environment if it unreasonably interfered with the plaintiff’s work performance or created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment. The California Legislature expressly rejected the more restrictive Ninth Circuit standard in Brooks v. City of San Mateo (2000) 229 F.3d 917 and declared that opinion shall not be used in determining what conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive under FEHA.
Harassment Outside the Traditional Workplace, Civil Code § 51.9
Not all actionable harassment happens in an employment relationship. Civil Code § 51.9 creates a separate cause of action covering professional relationships outside the workplace. Doctors, attorneys, landlords, teachers, real estate agents, and substantially similar professionals can be held liable when they make unwelcome sexual advances or engage in verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is pervasive or severe, and that causes economic loss, personal injury, or emotional distress. If you were harassed by a professional you had to interact with for housing, medical care, or education, you may have a claim that has nothing to do with employment law.
Who Can Be Held Liable: Employers, Supervisors, and Individual Harassers
Strict Liability for Supervisor Harassment
When a supervisor commits sexual harassment, the employer is automatically liable. There is no “knew or should have known” requirement. The employer cannot escape responsibility by claiming it had a complaint policy or that it was unaware of the conduct. This strict liability rule is confirmed by the California Civil Rights Department and applies regardless of how small or large the Glendale employer is.
Co-Worker and Non-Employee Harassment
When a co-worker (rather than a supervisor) is the harasser, liability attaches under a negligence standard: the employer is liable if it knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. The same negligence standard applies to harassment by non-employees. If a client, vendor, or customer harassed you and your employer was aware (or should have been aware) and did nothing, the employer can be held responsible under FEHA.
Personal Liability of the Harasser
Individual harassers are not shielded by the corporate structure. Under FEHA, both supervisory and non-supervisory employees can be sued personally. Aiding and abetting harassment is also independently actionable. This means you may have claims against both the employer and the individual who harassed you simultaneously.
The Employer’s Duty to Prevent Harassment
California law imposes an affirmative obligation on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment. Employers with five or more part-time or full-time employees must provide at least one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to non-supervisory employees, and two hours to supervisory employees, within six months of hire, with retraining every two years (Gov. Code § 12950.1). An employer’s failure to meet its prevention obligation is an independent basis for liability, separate from liability for the harassment itself. If your employer skipped required training or had no meaningful complaint procedure, that failure strengthens your claim.
If your harassment occurred alongside or led to a wrongful discharge, the Setareh Law Group team handles wrongful termination claims in Glendale as well. The two claims often arise together.
How to Recognize the Signs: What Sexual Harassment Lawyers Evaluate First
Sexual harassment claims fall into two main patterns: quid pro quo harassment (a job benefit conditioned on sexual submission) and hostile work environment harassment (conduct that is severe or pervasive enough to alter working conditions). Both flow from Government Code § 12940. When a Glendale worker describes their situation to a sexual harassment lawyer for the first time, the lawyer is listening for the specific conduct patterns below.
Common Conduct Patterns That Support a FEHA Claim
- Unwanted physical contact: Touching, grabbing, brushing against, or blocking movement, even once, if severe enough.
- Sexual or gender-based comments: Jokes, slurs, degrading remarks about a person’s body, gender identity, or pregnancy, including comments not framed as “flirting.”
- Quid pro quo pressure: A supervisor linking a promotion, raise, favorable schedule, or continued employment to sexual favors or compliance.
- Repeated unwanted advances: Persistent requests for dates or sexual contact after a clear refusal.
- Explicit or suggestive materials: Sending or displaying sexually explicit images, videos, or messages in the workplace or via work devices.
- Retaliation after reporting: Being demoted, transferred, given a worse schedule, or fired after complaining about harassment internally.
- Hostile environment targeting a protected class: Conduct that targets workers because they are women, pregnant, non-binary, or of a particular gender expression, even without an explicit sexual element.
- Harassment by a non-employee: A vendor, client, or customer who engages in any of the above, combined with employer inaction after the employer learned of it.
Illustrative scenario: A receptionist at a Glendale medical office is repeatedly told by a physician that she should “dress to impress” the male patients, is sent text messages with explicit images from a work phone number, and is told her hours will be cut if she does not “lighten up.” She reports the conduct to the office manager, who takes no action. Under FEHA, the employer is likely strictly liable for the physician’s conduct if he has supervisory authority, and independently liable for failing to take corrective action after the complaint was made. Her lawyer would document each incident, the date of the internal report, and the absence of any employer response.
As an employment discrimination attorney in Glendale handles these evaluations routinely, the pattern of employer inaction after a complaint is frequently as important as the underlying harassment itself.
What Damages Can a Sexual Harassment Victim Recover in California?
California’s FEHA does not cap compensatory or punitive damages in harassment cases the way federal Title VII does. For verified categories of recovery, a successful claimant may seek:
- Economic damages: Lost wages, lost benefits, and lost earning capacity caused by the harassment or a related adverse employment action.
- Non-economic damages: Emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. These are uncapped under FEHA for harassment claims.
- Punitive damages: Available when employer conduct is oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious. The CRD itself may seek punitive damages when it files a civil complaint on a claimant’s behalf.
- Attorney’s fees and costs: The CRD may also seek these, and a prevailing plaintiff in a private lawsuit is generally entitled to recover them under FEHA.
For context on how California courts have valued these cases, the firm’s guides on average sexual harassment settlements in California and past sexual harassment settlement amounts provide useful background, though every case turns on its own facts.
Filing Deadlines and the CRD Process: Glendale Workers Cannot Afford to Wait
The Three-Year Window to File with the CRD
Workers who have been sexually harassed or retaliated against must file an administrative complaint with the California Civil Rights Department within three years of the last act of harassment or retaliation. This deadline applies to all employers in California regardless of size. Because FEHA’s harassment provisions cover all employers with no minimum employee count, even a small Glendale salon, restaurant, or medical office is subject to this rule. Missing the three-year window bars a private civil lawsuit entirely.
After the CRD: Your One-Year Window to Sue
Stage | Deadline | What Happens
|
|---|---|---|
File with CRD | 3 years from last act of harassment or retaliation | CRD acts as neutral fact-finder; attempts voluntary resolution between parties |
CRD files in court (if evidence sufficient and settlement fails) | At CRD’s discretion | CRD may file a civil complaint in state or federal court on your behalf; may seek punitive damages and attorney’s fees |
Right-to-Sue Notice issued | Triggers 1-year window | Claimant has one year from the notice date to file a private civil lawsuit in state court |
How to File a CRD Complaint
- Online: ccrs.calcivilrights.ca.gov
- Email: contact.center@calcivilrights.ca.gov
- Mail: 651 Bannon Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95811
- Phone: 800-884-1684 (TTY: 800-700-2320)
What This Means If You Are a Glendale Worker Weighing Your Options
California law is built to be inclusive: one incident, an employer of any size, and harassers who are clients or professionals outside the formal workplace can all give rise to a valid claim. If you have been waiting to see whether things improve, or wondering whether your situation was “bad enough,” the more pressing question is where you stand on the three-year filing clock. Document every incident you can recall with dates, locations, and any witnesses. Preserve text messages, emails, and voicemails before they disappear from a work device you may lose access to. Note whether you made an internal complaint and whether the employer responded, because employer inaction after notice is independently actionable. Speaking with an employment lawyer in Glendale, California sooner rather than later preserves every option; waiting narrows them.
Frequently Asked Questions for Glendale Workers
What do sexual harassment lawyers look for when evaluating a claim?
Lawyers evaluate the nature and frequency of the conduct, whether the harasser had supervisory authority, whether you made an internal complaint and how the employer responded, and how far into the three-year filing window you are. Strict liability applies automatically when a supervisor is the harasser, so identifying the harasser’s role is often the first question.
Does my employer have to have a certain number of employees for FEHA to apply?
No. FEHA’s harassment provisions cover all California employers regardless of size. A single-location Glendale employer with two employees is covered.
What if I was harassed by a client, not a coworker?
Your employer can still be liable. If the employer knew or should have known about the harassment by a client or customer and failed to take appropriate corrective action, FEHA’s negligence standard is satisfied.
Can I be fired for reporting sexual harassment?
Retaliation for reporting harassment is independently unlawful under FEHA. The same three-year filing deadline applies to a retaliation claim, running from the retaliatory act (such as a demotion or termination), not from the original harassment.
What if the harassment happened outside work, like with my landlord or doctor?
Civil Code § 51.9 may apply. That statute covers professional relationships outside the traditional workplace and allows a claim when the professional’s conduct was pervasive or severe and caused economic loss, personal injury, or emotional distress.
Contact Setareh Law Group: If you believe you have been sexually harassed at work or in a professional relationship in the Glendale area, contact Setareh Law Group for a confidential consultation. Our team represents California workers in sexual harassment, discrimination, and related employment claims. No outcome or settlement value is guaranteed, but the sooner you reach out, the more options remain open to you.
Contact us today:
📞 Phone: 310-888-7771
✉️ Email: help@setarehlaw.com
🌐 Address: 420 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills CA, 90210
Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Each case is unique, and outcomes depend on specific facts and circumstances. Consult with a qualified California employment attorney to discuss your individual situation.
Sources and Additional Resources
Authoritative sources cited
- Government Code § 12940(j)(1)
- Government Code § 12923
- Civil Code § 51.9
- Gov. Code § 12950.1
- California Civil Rights Department
- ccrs.calcivilrights.ca.gov
Related Setareh Law Group resources
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