Workplace Harassment Lawyer in California
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What California Law Considers Workplace Harassment
California’s Government Code § 12940(j)(1) prohibits harassment of employees, applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and independent contractors based on more than 18 protected characteristics. The protections apply to every California employer regardless of size, including a company with only one employee. Individual harassers can be held personally liable under California law, a right that does not exist under federal law. If you experienced harassment at work, you generally have three years from the last act to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).
To be actionable under FEHA, harassing conduct must be: (1) unwelcome, (2) based on a protected characteristic, and (3) sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of employment and create a hostile or abusive work environment. A single isolated comment may not meet this threshold, but a pattern of offensive remarks, physical contact, or exclusionary treatment tied to a protected characteristic often will. Two recognized legal categories are hostile work environment harassment and quid pro quo harassment, where a supervisor conditions a job benefit on submission to unwelcome conduct.
One frequently misunderstood point: under Government Code § 12940(j)(4)(C),“harassment because of sex includes sexual harassment, gender harassment, and harassment based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” and “sexually harassing conduct need not be motivated by sexual desire.” A male supervisor who demeans a female employee because he resents women in leadership roles can be liable under FEHA even if his conduct is not overtly sexual. For a deeper look at where the legal line falls, see what counts as harassment in California workplaces.
Protected Characteristics Under FEHA: The Full List
Government Code § 12940(j)(1) enumerates the following protected characteristics:
- 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
- Veteran or military status
If the behavior you experienced is tied to any characteristic on this list, FEHA’s harassment protections are at least potentially available to you.
Who Is Covered and Why California's Rules Are Broader Than Federal Law
Federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act applies only to employers with 15 or more employees and does not cover independent contractors or volunteers at all. California’s FEHA goes significantly further on every dimension. Under Government Code § 12940(j)(1), harassment protections cover employees, applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and contractors, and they apply to employers of any size, even a single-employee operation.
|
Dimension |
Federal Title VII |
California FEHA (§ 12940(j))
|
|---|---|---|
|
Minimum employer size |
15 employees |
No minimum (even 1 employee) |
|
Independent contractors covered |
No |
Yes |
|
Unpaid interns and volunteers covered |
No |
Yes |
|
Individual harasser personally liable |
No |
Yes (§ 12940(j)(3)) |
|
Filing deadline |
Generally 180 days (confirm at eeoc.gov for California deferral-state rules) |
3 years from last act (CRD) |
FEHA does require five or more employees for its discrimination and retaliation provisions, but that threshold does not apply to harassment. A freelance graphic designer harassed by the only other person at a two-person studio has a viable FEHA claim.
Does a Workplace Harassment Lawyer Handle Claims Against Small Employers?
Yes. Because California’s harassment protections apply regardless of employer size, a workplace harassment lawyer in California can pursue a claim against a small business, a family-owned shop, or a sole proprietorship. There is no employee-count floor to clear before FEHA’s harassment protections attach. Additionally, under Government Code § 12940(j)(3), even a single coworker or business owner can be named as an individual defendant, which matters when the employer’s assets are limited.
Individual Liability: Your Harasser Can Be Sued Personally in California
Government Code § 12940(j)(3) states that “an employee of an entity subject to this part is personally liable for any harassment prohibited by this section that is perpetrated by the employee, regardless of whether the employer knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take corrective action.” This means the person who harassed you, whether a supervisor, a coworker, or a manager, can be named as a defendant in your lawsuit independent of what the company knew or did.
This is a meaningful departure from federal law, which does not permit individual-defendant liability under Title VII. In practical terms, individual liability matters when the employer is a small company with limited assets, when the company disputes that it had notice of the harassment, or when the harasser is a high-earning executive whose personal assets are substantial. Our job harassment attorneys in Los Angeles regularly evaluate both the employer and the individual harasser as potential defendants when building a claim.
The personal liability provision applies to supervisory and non-supervisory employees alike. Any employee of an entity covered by FEHA who commits prohibited harassment is personally exposed.
Employer Liability: When the Company Is Responsible for What Happened
Even where the harasser is an individual coworker rather than an owner or executive, the employer may share liability. Under Government Code § 12940(j)(1), for harassment by a non-supervisory employee, employer liability attaches when the employer “knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.”
What “Immediate and Appropriate Corrective Action” Means for Your Claim
This statutory phrase sets the benchmark for employer accountability. “Immediate” means the employer cannot sit on a complaint for weeks before acting. “Appropriate” means the response must be calibrated to the severity of the harassment: a verbal warning for an isolated minor comment may be appropriate; reassigning the harasser while conducting a real investigation may be required in more serious cases.
Context matters when evaluating whether a response was appropriate. Government Code § 12950.1, as expanded by SB 1343 effective January 1, 2020, requires all California employers with five or more employees to provide two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to supervisory employees and one hour to non-supervisory employees within six months of hire or promotion, and every two years thereafter. An employer that never trained its supervisors on recognizing and responding to harassment faces harder questions about whether its corrective response was truly “appropriate” when harassment was reported.
A common employer tactic is to claim that the employee who complained did not follow internal reporting procedures, and that the company therefore cannot be held responsible. Under FEHA’s framework, the relevant question is not whether the employee used the right form, but whether the employer knew or should have known and whether its response met the statutory standard.
Illustrative example: A warehouse employee reports to her HR manager that a coworker has been making repeated comments about her ethnicity for three months. HR acknowledges the report but takes no action for six weeks, at which point the coworker is given an informal verbal reminder. The harassment continues. Under § 12940(j)(1), a court would examine whether that six-week delay and informal response constituted “immediate and appropriate corrective action.” Given the duration of the original conduct and the inadequacy of the response, the employer’s liability exposure is substantial.
Your Deadline: Three Years to File a Harassment Complaint in California
The California Civil Rights Department requires harassment complaints to be filed within three years of the last act of harassment. This deadline was extended from one year by AB 9 (the SHARE Act), signed into law on October 10, 2019. The CRD’s official workplace poster confirms the current three-year rule. For complainants who were under age 18 when the harassment occurred, the deadline is three years from the last act or one year after their eighteenth birthday, whichever is later.
In a continuing harassment pattern, each new act of harassment can refresh the filing window. This means that if a hostile work environment persisted over months, the clock typically runs from the most recent harassing act, not the first. However, this concept has legal nuances that depend on the specific facts of your situation. Do not rely on it without first consulting a workplace harassment lawyer.
After filing with the CRD and receiving a right-to-sue notice, there is an additional deadline to file a civil lawsuit in court. The exact length of that window depends on Government Code § 12965, which you should confirm directly on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov or by consulting an attorney before it expires.
What If You Waited: Can a Workplace Harassment Lawyer Still Help?
Three years is a generous window by national standards. But it is a hard cutoff: a claim filed one day late is generally barred, regardless of how serious the underlying conduct was. If you are unsure whether your deadline has passed, the most important thing you can do is consult a workplace harassment lawyer promptly. An attorney can identify when the clock started, whether any exceptions apply, and whether a parallel claim with a different deadline may preserve your options. For guidance on building your record in the meantime, see this resource on how to document workplace harassment.
What You Can Recover Under FEHA
The California Civil Rights Department’s official workplace poster confirms the following remedies are available to a prevailing employee under FEHA:
- Emotional distress damages: Compensation for the psychological harm caused by the harassment, including anxiety, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Punitive damages: Available where the employer or individual defendant acted with malice, oppression, or fraud; designed to punish and deter serious misconduct.
- Reasonable attorney’s fees and costs: A prevailing employee can recover attorney’s fees, which makes litigation more accessible because claimants do not have to absorb legal costs out of any recovery.
- Expert witness fees: The costs of expert testimony, which can be significant in contested cases.
- Cease-and-desist orders: Court orders requiring the employer or individual to stop the harassing conduct.
The attorney’s fees provision is particularly significant. Because FEHA authorizes fee-shifting, employees with strong claims can often retain experienced counsel without paying hourly fees upfront.
What This Means If You Are Still Deciding Whether to Act
If the conduct you experienced is tied to a protected characteristic and was severe or persistent enough to affect your ability to do your job, California law almost certainly covers you, and your employer’s size does not change that. The three-year filing window from the last harassing act is more time than federal law provides, but it moves faster than it seems, especially when preserving evidence and witness memory matters. Whether your claim targets the employer, the individual harasser, or both, a workplace harassment lawyer can assess those options in a free consultation.
If you work as an independent contractor, a volunteer, or for a small business, do not assume you are excluded. Under FEHA, you likely are not. For context on a real-world example of how employment discrimination and harassment claims play out at large organizations, you may also find it useful to review this discussion of Disney employment discrimination in California.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my employer have to have a certain number of employees for me to have a harassment claim in California?
No. FEHA’s harassment protections under Government Code § 12940(j) apply to all California employers regardless of size. Even a one-employee company is covered. The five-employee minimum that applies to FEHA’s discrimination and retaliation claims does not apply to harassment.
Can I sue my individual harasser, not just my employer?
Yes. Government Code § 12940(j)(3) makes individual employees personally liable for harassment they commit, regardless of whether the employer knew or should have known and failed to act. This applies to supervisors and coworkers alike.
What if my employer investigated and said nothing happened? Do I still have a claim?
An employer’s internal conclusion that harassment did not occur does not bind the CRD or a court. The relevant legal question is whether the conduct met the statutory standard, not what HR concluded. An employer’s investigation can also be scrutinized for whether it was prompt and thorough enough to constitute “appropriate corrective action” under § 12940(j)(1).
I am an independent contractor, not an employee. Can I still file a harassment complaint?
Yes. Government Code § 12940(j)(1) expressly covers contractors, and the California Civil Rights Department confirms that independent contractors and volunteers may file harassment complaints with the CRD.
How long do I have to file a complaint?
Three years from the last act of harassment, as confirmed by the CRD’s official workplace poster and established by AB 9 (the SHARE Act), signed October 10, 2019. For minors, the deadline is three years after the last act or one year after their eighteenth birthday, whichever is later.
Contact Setareh Law Group for a free consultation. Our employment attorneys represent workers throughout California in workplace harassment claims. Call us or submit a contact form to speak with a member of our team about what you experienced and what options may be available to you. We do not guarantee outcomes or specific recovery amounts; every case depends on its facts.
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 does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different, and the law’s application depends on specific facts. You should consult a licensed California employment attorney about your particular circumstances before taking any action.
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