Workplace Harassment Guide for California Employees
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What California Law Actually Prohibits, and Why It's Broader Than You Think
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code § 12940, prohibits workplace harassment based on 19 protected characteristics, a list that goes well beyond sexual harassment. Gov. Code § 12940(j)(1) enumerates: race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, reproductive health decisionmaking, and veteran or military status — 18 enumerated bases. The count of 19 is a common characterization but not a fixed statutory number; the article’s own bulleted list contains 18 items. California employers with five or more employees are legally required to maintain written anti-harassment policies and to train every employee. When harassment occurs, you generally have three years to file an administrative complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) before you can unlock the right to sue in court. This guide covers exactly what the law prohibits, who is liable, what your deadlines are, and what to do next.
The Full List of Protected Categories Under FEHA
Many employees assume workplace harassment law covers only sexual harassment. Government Code § 12940 covers harassment based on all of the following:
- Race
- Religious creed
- Color
- National origin
- Ancestry
- Physical disability
- Mental disability
- Reproductive health decision-making
- Medical condition
- Genetic information
- Marital status
- Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions)
- Gender
- Gender identity
- Gender expression
- Age
- Sexual orientation
- Veteran or military status
Categories that employees frequently overlook include reproductive health decision-making, genetic information, gender identity and expression, and veteran or military status. If your harasser targeted you because of any characteristic on this list, FEHA applies. The statute covers harassment by supervisors, coworkers, and, in many circumstances, non-employees such as customers or vendors.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Workplace Harassment in California
One of the most consequential questions a harassed California worker faces is whether the employer itself can be held responsible, particularly when the harasser is a manager, a coworker, or even a client. Government Code § 12940 sets three distinct liability standards depending on who committed the harassment.
Who Harassed You | Legal Standard for Employer Liability | Authority
|
|---|---|---|
Supervisor or manager | Employer is strictly liable. No excuse or lack-of-knowledge defense is available. | |
Non-supervisory coworker | Employer is liable if it knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. | |
Non-employee (customer, vendor, contractor) | Employer is liable once it becomes aware of the harassment and fails to take reasonable steps to address it. | Gov. Code § 12940(j) |
Separately, under Government Code § 12940(k), employers have an affirmative, proactive duty to prevent harassment from occurring in the first place. That means implementing policies, training employees, and maintaining a reporting mechanism before any complaint is ever filed. An employer that has done none of this has already violated the law.
The Difference Between Supervisor Harassment and Coworker Harassment Under FEHA
The supervisor/coworker distinction has real consequences for your case. When your direct manager or any individual with authority over your employment conditions is the harasser, the employer is strictly liable under § 12940(j)(1). It cannot defend itself by claiming it was unaware of the conduct. When a coworker without supervisory authority is the harasser, the employer can only be held liable if it knew or should have known and then failed to act. This means your documentation of when and how you reported the conduct to HR or management becomes legally significant. If you reported and nothing changed, the employer likely had notice and failed its legal obligation.
A frequent employer defense in coworker-harassment cases is that it investigated promptly and took corrective action. Under FEHA, the corrective action must be both immediate and appropriate. A delayed, half-hearted response does not satisfy the statute. Our job harassment attorneys regularly evaluate whether an employer’s internal response met this standard.
Your Employer's Legal Obligations: Policies, Training, and the Duty to Act
California law does not merely require employers to respond to harassment after it occurs. It requires employers to build structures that prevent it. If your employer never provided you with a written harassment policy or never trained its staff, it may have already violated the law before you filed a single complaint.
What a Legally Compliant California Harassment Policy Must Include
Under Government Code § 12940, employers with five or more employees must develop and distribute a written harassment, discrimination, and retaliation prevention policy that contains all of the following:
- A list of all 19 protected categories under FEHA
- A confidential complaint process for reporting harassment
- A commitment to timely investigation of complaints
- Documentation and recordkeeping procedures
- Explicit protections against retaliation for anyone who reports harassment or participates in an investigation
If your employer’s policy is missing any of these components, or if no policy was ever distributed to you, that omission is itself evidence of a violation of § 12940(k)’s proactive prevention duty.
Mandatory Harassment Prevention Training Under Government Code § 12950.1
Enacted via SB 1343, Government Code § 12950.1 requires all California employers with five or more employees to provide sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to every employee, on a biennial cycle. The specific requirements depend on your role:
Employee Type | Training Hours Required | Initial Deadline After Hire or Promotion
|
|---|---|---|
Non-supervisory employees | 1 hour every 2 years | Within 6 months of hire |
Supervisory employees | 2 hours every 2 years | Within 6 months of promotion to supervisor |
Seasonal or temporary workers (expected to work less than 6 months) | Per role above | Within 30 calendar days of hire, or 100 hours worked, whichever comes first |
The next biennial training deadline is January 1, 2027. The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) provides free online training courses in six languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Employers may use these courses to satisfy the statutory training requirement without hiring an outside trainer.
Deadlines You Cannot Miss: Filing Timelines for California Harassment Claims
Missing a deadline forecloses your legal options entirely. California and federal law each run separate clocks, and the two tracks operate in parallel.
Step | Deadline | What Starts the Clock | Authority
|
|---|---|---|---|
File CRD administrative complaint | 3 years | Date of harassment, or date of last act in a continuing series | Gov. Code § 12960 (amended by AB 9, eff. Jan. 1, 2020) |
File civil lawsuit after CRD right-to-sue notice | 1 year | Date the notice is issued, not the date you receive it | |
File EEOC charge (federal track) | 300 days | Date of the alleged harassment | |
File federal civil lawsuit after EEOC notice | 90 days | Date you receive the EEOC right-to-sue notice | EEOC |
Critical distinction: Under Gov. Code § 12965, the one-year window to file a civil lawsuit after the CRD issues a right-to-sue notice runs from the date the notice is issued, not the date you receive it in the mail. If the notice takes two weeks to reach you, those two weeks count against your year. Do not wait to act once you are notified that a notice has been issued.
The Two-Step Filing Process: CRD First, Then Court
You cannot file a civil lawsuit under FEHA without first exhausting your administrative remedy at the CRD. This means filing a complaint with the CRD, waiting for it to investigate or close the matter, and then obtaining a right-to-sue notice. That notice is the procedural key that unlocks the courthouse door. The CRD can be reached at 800-884-1684 (voice), 800-700-2320 (TTY), or through California’s Relay Service at 711.
The California and federal tracks run in parallel, not in sequence. You can pursue a FEHA claim through the CRD at the same time you pursue a Title VII claim through the EEOC. Each track has its own deadlines and its own right-to-sue notice. Because the federal clock (300 days) is shorter than the state clock (3 years), a worker who delays may still have state options after federal options have expired, but it is always safer to preserve both.
What to Do If You Are Being Harassed: Practical Steps
Once you have confirmed that the conduct you experienced likely falls within FEHA’s protections, the following steps help preserve your legal options.
Your Documentation Checklist
- Write it down immediately. After each incident, record the date, time, location, what was said or done, who was present, and whether you reported it to anyone. Memory fades and contemporaneous notes carry weight.
- Save physical and digital records. Preserve emails, text messages, voicemails, performance reviews, and any written communications related to the harassment or to your complaints about it. Forward work emails to a personal account if your employer’s system access could be revoked.
- Identify witnesses. Note who observed the conduct or who you told about it afterward. Coworkers who witnessed incidents or heard your accounts can corroborate your timeline.
- Report internally in writing. Making a written complaint to HR or your manager creates a paper trail showing the employer had notice. If the employer fails to act, this record supports the argument that it knew and did nothing.
- Request a copy of your employer’s harassment policy. You have a right to see it. Compare what it says against the legal requirements listed above.
- Document retaliation separately. If your hours are cut, your performance reviews suddenly worsen, or you are reassigned after making a complaint, document those changes the same way you documented the harassment. Retaliation is a separate violation of FEHA.
- Consult an attorney before signing anything. If your employer offers a severance agreement or asks you to sign a release, understand what rights you may be waiving. California law restricts the use of NDAs in harassment settlements; review our article on NDA and sexual harassment in California before signing.
For a detailed framework on building your documentation record, see our guides on how to document workplace harassment and additional documentation strategies.
Illustrative Scenario: Customer Harassment and Employer Inaction
Consider a hypothetical: a retail employee reports to her store manager, in writing, that a regular customer has made repeated comments targeting her national origin over several weeks. The manager acknowledges the complaint but takes no action, and the customer continues visiting the store. Under Gov. Code § 12940(j), once the employer became aware of the non-employee’s conduct and failed to take reasonable corrective steps, the employer became potentially liable. The written report to the manager is the moment the clock on the employer’s obligation started. This kind of documented inaction is precisely the pattern that FEHA’s non-employee harassment provision was designed to address. High-profile workplace discrimination cases, such as those involving major employers like Tesla’s California operations, illustrate what systemic employer inaction can look like in practice.
What This Means If You Are Deciding Whether to Act
If what happened to you fits any of the 19 protected categories under FEHA, you are not required to tolerate it, and your employer was legally obligated to prevent it before it ever started. Your three-year window to file with the CRD is longer than most employees realize, but it is not unlimited, and the one-year civil suit clock starts running the moment a right-to-sue notice is issued, not when it lands in your mailbox. If you have already made an internal report and nothing changed, that record of employer inaction may be the most important document you have. Do not sign any agreement or release before speaking with an attorney who can evaluate what rights you may be giving up. The earlier you document and the earlier you consult counsel, the more options remain available to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does FEHA cover small businesses?
Yes. FEHA’s harassment prohibitions apply to California employers with five or more employees. Both the written policy requirement and the mandatory training requirement apply at the same five-employee threshold.
What if my harasser was a customer, not a coworker?
Under Government Code § 12940(j), your employer is required to take reasonable corrective action once it becomes aware that you are being harassed by a non-employee. Employer inaction after notice is actionable under FEHA.
Can I file with the CRD and the EEOC at the same time?
Yes. The California (CRD) and federal (EEOC) tracks are separate and can run in parallel. Each has its own deadlines. Filing with one agency does not automatically satisfy the other, though the agencies have a worksharing agreement that can allow cross-filing in some circumstances. Consult an attorney about which tracks apply to your situation.
Does it matter that I never made a formal HR complaint?
It may affect the coworker-harassment analysis, where the employer’s liability depends on whether it knew or should have known. However, failing to report internally does not bar you from filing with the CRD. Many employees do not report for fear of retaliation, which is itself a factor courts recognize.
What is a right-to-sue notice and why do I need one?
A right-to-sue notice is a document the CRD issues that allows you to file a civil lawsuit in California Superior Court under FEHA. You must obtain this notice before you can sue. Once it is issued, you have one year from the date of issuance, under Government Code § 12965, to file your lawsuit.
Contact Setareh Law Group: If you believe you have been subjected to workplace harassment in California, our employment attorneys are available to evaluate your situation. Contact Setareh Law Group to schedule a consultation. We represent California workers on a contingency basis, meaning you pay no fees unless we recover for you.
Contact us today:
📞 Phone: 310-888-7771
✉️ Email: help@setarehlaw.com
🌐 Address: 420 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills CA, 90210
Disclaimer: This article is general legal information about California workplace harassment law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Setareh Law Group. Every situation is different, and the application of law to your specific facts requires consultation with a licensed California employment attorney. Do not rely on this article as a substitute for individualized legal counsel.
Sources and Additional Resources
Authoritative sources cited
- Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code § 12940
- Government Code § 12950.1
- California Civil Rights Department (CRD)
- Gov. Code § 12960
- Gov. Code § 12965
- EEOC filing rules
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