California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits sexual harassment in every workplace in the state, no matter how small the employer. It protects employees, job applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and people working under contract — and it reaches unwanted touching and groping, sexual advances and propositions, sexual comments and jokes, explicit texts and images, and sexual assault. Harassment can be quid pro quo, where a job, a shift, a raise, or a promotion is made to depend on going along with a sexual demand, or it can create a hostile work environment. California law is clear that a single serious incident can be enough, and the harasser can be any gender.
Who did it matters. When the harasser is a supervisor, manager, or owner, California holds the employer responsible for that conduct. When it is a coworker, a customer, or a vendor, the employer is responsible if it knew or should have known and failed to take prompt action to stop it — which is why a written complaint to management or HR, by text or email, is so important. Either way, the individual harasser can be held personally liable, and it is illegal for the company to retaliate against you for complaining or for refusing an advance.
If you were sexually harassed while working in California within the last few years, you may be able to hold your employer accountable — even if you still work there.
