Los Angeles Sexual Harassment Lawyer
Though most employers strive to ensure the workplace remains free from sexual harassment, statistics indicate that misconduct still occurs with alarming frequency. According to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), there are more than 6000 complaints filed every year regarding various forms of sexual harassment.
What Is Considered Sexual Harassment in California?
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits two main types of sexual harassment in California: (1) quid pro quo, and (2) hostile work environment.
“Quid pro quo” means conditioning employment, promotion, or any other work benefit on your submission to sexual advances or acts.
A hostile work environment claim occurs when unwelcome sexual advances, or physical, verbal, or visual misconduct of a sexual nature occurs. It means you were sexually harassed through “severe” or “pervasive” harassing conduct based on a protected status, such as your sex, gender, or even pregnancy or gender identity. The claim can be based on a single act if it was “severe”, or ongoing conduct that was “severe” or “pervasive”.
The claim requires unwelcomed comments or conduct that creates a hostile, intimidating, offensive, oppressive, or abusive work environment. If alleged against an employer, you must also show that a supervisor engaged in the conduct or that they knew or should have known about it but failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
Examples of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Various acts can be considered sexual harassment, but a particular act will not always be considered sexual harassment.
For quid pro quo:
- Asking for a date or sexual acts to get hired, promoted, or to receive any other work benefit
- Conditioning ongoing employment, pay, or any other work benefits, or threatening to fire, demote, change pay or hours or other work assignments, in exchange for sexual acts or favors
For hostile work environment:
- Constantly “glaring” or touching in a sexual nature, or other inappropriate or unwelcome touching of him/herself or you
- Blocking or standing in someone’s way
- Suggestive facial expressions or gestures
- Comments or derogatory statements, including jokes or about one’s sexual identity, photos, or body, or spreading sexual rumors
- Making sexual innuendos, displaying or showing sexually explicit or suggestive photos
- Repeatedly asking for a date or making advances after being rejected
- Sex related name calling or pet names
- Phone calls, emails, texts, or other online messages of a sexual nature
- Following you around or only paying excessive attention to you
Summary of California Sexual Harassment Laws by Attorney
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits two general forms of sexual harassment in the workplace.
- Hostile Work Environment: Sexually suggestive comments or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature based on the employee’s sex may create a hostile work environment when an employee feels intimidated, offended, or the subject of hostilities. To rise to the level of “hostile,” the misconduct must be either severe or pervasive, such that it alters the employment environment.
- Unwanted Advances: This type of sexual harassment is the one you may be more familiar with, and is when unwelcome sexual advances or physical, verbal, or visual misconduct of a sexual nature occurs. An example is quid pro quo, which may occur when an employee in a supervisory position demands sexual acts, in exchange for a promise of advantageous treatment or refraining from adverse action.
Why You Need a Sexual Harassment Attorney
An experienced sexual harassment litigation attorney can assist from the beginning to determine: (1) the types of claims you have; (2) whether or not claims should be asserted only against an employer or employees individually, or any other third parties; (3) the best approach to enforce your rights to maximize the recovery to which you are entitled; and (4) a fair valuation of any recovery or outcome based on your circumstances.
Liability means proving that the other party is legally responsible for your damages. This includes determining whether only the employer, or fellow employee, is liable.
The law also requires you to prove very specific elements to prove any claim. For example, with a hostile work environment claim, an attorney helps determine whether the “offensive conduct” would be considered “pervasive” or “severe”, or whether that conduct created an “intimidating”, “offensive”, “oppressive”, or “abusive” work environment. Although these are common words that have typical, ordinary meanings, the courts and legal system use them with special definitions of what conduct “counts” under the eyes of the law.
Damages means proving the extent or amount of the harm caused by the liable party. An attorney assists in maximizing the valuation of a claim. For example, there is no set “law” that says a certain type of sexual harassment is “worth” a certain amount. Your position and salary, performance at work, severity of offensive conduct, who the aggressor was, and the extent of your medical treatment after any sexual harassment, are just some examples of what affect the valuation.
Case Results
$1M Settlement
Employment Law
Employee faced racial and disability discrimination in addition to retaliation after reporting incidents at work
$250k Settlement
Employment Law
For an officer in law enforcement subjected to sexual harassment and failure to prevent harassment
$130k Settlement
Employment Law
Pre-litigation settlement for retaliation against whistleblower of non-profit
Disclaimer: Illustrative examples of case types and outcomes. Attorneys cannot guarantee outcomes. Results are case-specific and depend on the true facts of the case. More information here.
Legal Options for Victims of Sexual Harassment
Legal options vary depending on your employer. You may have to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), or a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which starts an investigation. You also have the option to opt out of the investigation and obtain a “Right to Sue” letter, to pursue your claims against your employer in a civil action.
Other options, such as an internal or union grievance process, may exist. With other employers, your only option may be arbitration.
All these options may or may not be prerequisites for filing a civil action.
Filing a Sexual Harassment Claim in Los Angeles
Depending on the specifics and type of workplace sexual harassment, you may take action against your employer, the offending employee or supervisor, and designated third parties. A sexual harassment lawyer at Litigation, P.C., will guide you through the process, which starts by filing a complaint with the California DFEH. To preserve your rights, you will need to submit the necessary paperwork within three years after you experienced sexual harassment.
Once you file your complaint, the process works as follows:
- DFEH reviews the information you provided in support of your claim, including specific facts, records, and documentation.
- If DFEH determines that the matter warrants in-depth investigation, it will request a response from the person or entity you allege sexually harassed you.
- Where the facts and allegations indicate a violation of sexual harassment laws, DFEH will require both sides to participate in mediation.
- If mediation is not successful or DFEH decides not to proceed, you may initiate litigation in civil court once you have a “Right to Sue” letter.
Through the administrative and judicial processes, it is possible to recover amounts for back pay, front pay, pain and suffering, attorneys’ fees, and other damages.
Discuss Your Options with Our Workplace Sexual Harassment Attorney in Los Angeles
It is important to retain experienced legal counsel if you were the target of sexual harassment in the workplace. For a confidential consultation with an experienced sexual harassment litigation attorney, contact Litigation, P.C., at 424-284-2401 or online to learn about your legal options. We routinely handle matters throughout SoCal.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can online sexual harassment outside of work still be considered workplace harassment?
In today’s digital age, offensive conduct may be committed online. In a recent decision, a California appellate court held that unwanted sexual advances that occurred outside of the workplace and after work hours (sending unsolicited nude photographs and messages for sex), was not a viable claim against the employer. Even though the conduct was reprehensible, it was not “sufficiently work related within the ambit of FEHA, and it did not recur inside the workplace”. Kruitbosch v. Bakersfield Recovery Services, Inc. (F087809). The court also held, however, that once the victim made a complaint to his employer, and the HR representative said that “nothing could be done”, and then mocked him in a social media post, the employer’s response to the complaint and failure to protect him in the workplace, was a potentially viable claim.
How can I report sexual harassment?
You can report sexual harassment to human resources (HR), a supervisor, manager, or owner. What is important is that the complaint is made to a person who has authority over the other employee, or has the authority to investigate, discover, or correct the conduct.
You can also report sexual harassment through the CRD or EEOC, as well as through any internal grievance process.
If the conduct rises to the level of a criminal act, such as a sexual assault, it can also be reported to proper law enforcement.
Reports can be made verbally or in writing. Whether a verbal complaint was made, or what the complaint was about, however, may be difficult to prove later.
How long do I have to file a sexual harassment claim in Los Angeles?
There are multiple deadlines to consider. The “statute of limitation” is the “deadline” to file a lawsuit. It is typically three years for a hostile work environment or quid pro quo claim. Other causes of action based on the same harassing conduct, though, may have different statutes of limitation.
Before a lawsuit is filed, there may also be deadlines to file a prerequisite administrative or internal claim. Those processes can delay, or impose new deadlines for, the filing of a lawsuit.
If any civil claims are against a government entity or agency there is typically a six month deadline to first file an administrative “government tort claim”.
A CRD complaint must be filed “within three years of the date you were last harmed”. On the other hand, EEOC charges must typically be filed within 180 days of the occurrence.
Internal or union grievance procedures may also set separate deadlines, and can be as short as 30 or 45 days from the occurrence to file a grievance.
How much compensation will i receive in a sexual harassment lawsuit?
The law does not set a formula. Instead, certain types or categories of damages are available for each cause of action or legal claim.
An experienced litigation attorney should first determine what actionable claims exist to determine the available categories of damages you may seek. For example, punitive damages are not available for a negligence claim. Once the categories of damages are identified, a valuation needs to be made as to each of them. Examples of the types of damages include: economic damages (such as lost back and front pay or wages), non-economic damages (pain and suffering or emotional distress), punitive or exemplary damages (for oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious conduct), and civil penalties.
The total valuation of a claim changes throughout the legal process as evidence is discovered or more “things” happen in your case.
At Litigation, P.C., we pride ourselves in representing all those who were aggrieved, regardless of the circumstances, to maximize the recovery in each case.
Can I be fired for reporting sexual harassment at work?
An unfortunate reality is that although several state and federal laws prevent this type of retaliation, the risk of being fired or experiencing some other adverse employment action for reporting sexual harassment is a practical concern you must consider.
If you were terminated after you made a complaint for sexual harassment, or the workplace intentionally created or knowingly permitted working conditions to exist that were so intolerable that a you were forced to resign, you may have viable claims for retaliation or wrongful termination, in addition to any claims based on the sexual harassment.
Do I need evidence to prove workplace sexual harassment?
Yes, but you do not need a “smoking gun” in every case. Evidence typically comes in two forms: (1) testimony evidence, and (2) documentary or other tangible evidence.
You and other witnesses can provide oral testimony, about what each person saw, heard, observed, felt, suffered, and so on.
Examples of documentary evidence or other tangible evidence in a sexual harassment claim may include: text messages, emails, photos, videos, social media posts, or complaints and investigations conducted into those complaints.