Sexual Harassment at Work: What Counts and What You Can Do

Sexual harassment on the job is illegal in California, and state law protects more people, in more situations, than most workers realize. One serious incident can be enough. None of it is your fault. Here is what counts, who is covered, and exactly where to go.

What counts as sexual harassment

The law recognizes two forms:

• Quid pro quo: a job benefit tied to sexual conduct. If a supervisor hints that your hours, your raise, or your job itself depends on accepting a date or tolerating advances, that is harassment — even if you never gave in.
• Hostile environment: unwelcome sexual conduct that makes work intimidating or offensive — comments about your body, sexual jokes, texts or images, staring, questions about your sex life, touching, or blocking your path.

Your gender does not matter, and neither does the harasser's. Harassment between people of the same gender is still illegal, and men, women, and nonbinary workers can all be targets.

One serious incident can be enough

The legal test is whether the conduct was severe or pervasive — not both. Since 2019, Government Code section 12923 makes clear that a single serious incident can be enough to bring a claim, and you do not have to prove your work performance suffered. It is enough that the harassment made your job harder to do. How you reacted in the moment — freezing, staying polite, keeping the job because you needed it — does not erase any of that.

Who is protected, and who has to answer for it

Harassment protection is not limited to regular employees. Government Code section 12940(j) also covers job applicants, unpaid interns, volunteers, and people working under a contract.

Your employer's responsibility depends on who did it:

• If the harasser is a supervisor, the employer is automatically responsible.
• If the harasser is a coworker, customer, or vendor, the employer is responsible once it knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to take immediate, appropriate action.

Document everything; reporting is your choice

Write down each incident: date, place, what was said or done, and who saw it. Save texts, photos, and screenshots on your own phone or at home — never only on a work device.

Reporting to HR or a manager puts the employer on notice, which matters most when the harasser is a coworker or customer. But reporting internally is not legally required before you file with the state, and an employer that ignores complaints does not get to hide behind its own silence.

If you are punished for complaining — fired, hours cut, demoted, suddenly written up — that retaliation is a separate violation of Government Code section 12940(h), even if the harassment claim itself is never proven.