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Glendale Workplace Sexual Harassment Lawyer
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California Law Prohibits Workplace Sexual Harassment
Workplace sexual harassment is illegal under two overlapping legal frameworks. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) applies to all California employers with one or more employee, covers a broader range of conduct than federal law, and provides stronger remedies than the federal system. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal counterpart, enforced by the EEOC, and applies to employers with 15 or more employees.
Under FEHA, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, or conduct based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or childbirth, that is severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile, intimidating, or offensive work environment. A single severe incident can also meet that threshold. The conduct does not need to be motivated by sexual desire. California courts apply a “reasonable person” standard: whether a reasonable person in your position would find the conduct hostile or abusive.
Both the individual harasser and the employer can be held liable under California law.
The Two Legal Types of Workplace Sexual Harassment
California law recognizes two distinct forms of workplace sexual harassment. Both are illegal under FEHA and can support a claim against your employer.
Quid Pro Quo Harassment
This occurs when a person in authority makes job benefits contingent on sexual conduct (for example, offering a promotion in exchange for a date, threatening termination unless an employee complies with sexual demands, or conditioning a review on sexual favors). A single incident is sufficient. The employer is strictly liable when a supervisor commits quid pro quo harassment.
Hostile Work Environment Harassment
Exists when unwelcome sexual conduct is severe or frequent enough to alter the conditions of employment. The harasser can be a supervisor, co-worker, client, or vendor. Forms include sexually explicit comments, unwanted touching, display of sexual materials, repeated advances after rejection, and derogatory sex-based comments. For co-worker harassment, employer liability requires that the employer knew or should have known and failed to act.
Who Can Be Held Liable
Under California law, liability for sexual harassment extends beyond the direct harasser:
- The employer is strictly liable when a supervisor commits harassment — regardless of whether the company knew about it. When harassment is committed by a co-worker, contractor, or client, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known and failed to act appropriately.
- The individual harasser can be personally sued under FEHA, separate from any claim against the employer. This applies to supervisors and, in some circumstances, to co-workers who participated in or enabled the harassment.
- A third-party vendor, customer, or contractor can also create employer liability. California employers are obligated to protect employees from harassment by non-employees when the employer controls the environment where the harassment occurs.
What Happened to You at Work Was Not Acceptable.
California law says it was also illegal. HBK Lawyers represents employees in sexual harassment cases throughout Los Angeles County. Your consultation is free, completely confidential, and carries no obligation.
What You Can Recover
A successful sexual harassment claim in California can include multiple categories of compensation:
- Lost wages and benefits: Income lost as a result of the harassment, including wages lost from forced resignation, demotion, or termination connected to the harassment or to reporting it.
- Emotional distress damages: Compensation for anxiety, depression, humiliation, and psychological harm caused by the harassment. These damages are often the largest component of a sexual harassment recovery and are available under FEHA without requiring physical injury.
- Medical and therapy costs: Reimbursement for mental health treatment, counseling, and related medical expenses resulting from the harassment.
- Punitive damages: Available in cases of malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent conduct. California courts impose punitive damages to punish employers and individuals who act with conscious disregard for an employee’s rights. These amounts can be significant when the conduct is egregious or when management participated in or ignored known harassment.
- Attorney fees and costs: Under FEHA, prevailing employees are entitled to recover attorney fees from the employer. You absorb no legal costs if we win.
- Injunctive relief: Court orders requiring the employer to stop unlawful conduct, implement anti-harassment policies, or reinstate a wrongfully terminated employee.
Retaliation Protections
California law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who report sexual harassment, cooperate with an investigation, or support a co-worker who made a complaint. Retaliation includes termination, demotion, schedule reductions, pay cuts, sudden negative performance reviews, isolation, or any adverse action that a reasonable person would find discouraging.
Retaliation creates an independent legal claim, separate from the underlying harassment claim, and is itself grounds for damages, including lost wages, emotional distress, and punitive damages. If your employer took adverse action after you reported harassment, that retaliation should be addressed alongside your harassment case.
Steps to Take After Experiencing Sexual Harassment
Taking the right steps early strengthens your claim and protects your legal rights. Here is what matters most.
- Document everything as it happens. Record the date, time, location, what was said or done, who was present, and how you responded. Written records, such as texts, emails, and notes sent to yourself, carry more weight than just memory alone.
- Report in writing to HR or your supervisor. A written complaint creates a record that the employer was notified. Verbal-only reports give employers room to deny knowledge.
- Do not resign before speaking with an attorney. Resigning can affect your ability to claim lost wages. In some circumstances, California law treats a forced resignation as wrongful termination, but the analysis is fact-specific.
- Contact an employment attorney before filing with the CRD or EEOC. You may have to file an administrative complaint with California’s Civil Rights Department before pursuing a lawsuit. An attorney ensures the complaint is filed correctly and positions your case for maximum recovery.
Filing deadline: Three years from the date of harassment to file with the CRD. Federal EEOC claims carry a 300-day deadline.
Why HBK Lawyers
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We Take Cases Others Find Difficult
Sexual harassment claims often come down to one person's account against another's. We build cases that don't depend on a single piece of evidence, through obtaining witness statements, communications records, prior HR complaints, patterns of conduct, and everything else an employer would prefer to keep buried. We are not deterred by cases where the documentary record is incomplete at the outset.
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No One Is Passed to a Case Manager
Every client at HBK Lawyers works directly with a licensed attorney throughout their case — not a paralegal or intake coordinator who acts as a go-between. Sexual harassment matters are deeply personal. The person you speak with on day one is the person working your file.
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We Prepare for Trial, Not Just Settlement
Employers offer inadequate settlements when they believe opposing counsel will accept them. We don't. Every sexual harassment case we take is prepared with trial in mind because that posture changes how opposing counsel approaches every conversation. Our 50+ years of combined experience in California employment litigation support that approach.
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$100 Million Recovered for California Workers
That figure spans employment cases across all practice areas. Sexual harassment and retaliation claims, which carry both compensatory and punitive damage exposure, are among the highest-value employment cases litigated in California.
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Trilingual Representation — English, Spanish and Armenian
Sexual harassment affects workers across every industry, background, and language. HBK Lawyers provides complete legal services in Spanish or Armenian. Clients who prefer to communicate in Spanish or Armenian do so at every stage of the case, without barriers.
Case Results
Labor Law $7,000,000
Wage and hour class and PAGA action involving alleged Labor Code violations affecting groups of California employees.
Labor Law $5,500,000
Wage and hour class and PAGA action involving alleged Labor Code violations affecting groups of California employees.
Labor Law $5,250,000
Employment-related dispute involving alleged workplace, compensation, or statutory violations.
Labor Law $4,500,000
Representative PAGA action involving alleged California Labor Code violations, including wage and hour related claims.
Labor Law $7,000,000
Wage and hour class and PAGA action involving alleged Labor Code violations affecting groups of California employees.
Labor Law $5,500,000
Wage and hour class and PAGA action involving alleged Labor Code violations affecting groups of California employees.
Labor Law $5,250,000
Employment-related dispute involving alleged workplace, compensation, or statutory violations.
What Our Clients Say
Serving Los Angeles County and Beyond
HBK Lawyers represents employees throughout Los Angeles County, Glendale, Encino, Burbank, Pasadena, Long Beach, and surrounding communities, as well as Riverside County and San Diego County.
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Glendale Office
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Encino Office
16000 Ventura Blvd.
Suite 780
Encino, CA 91436
We've Helped Thousands of Workers. You Could Be Next.
With 50+ years of combined experience in California employment law, we know how to hold employers accountable when they violate worker protections. Let’s talk about what happened and explore your legal options.
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Sexual Harassment
Under FEHA, it is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature (or conduct based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or pregnancy) that is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment. A single severe incident can qualify, and the conduct does not need to be physical or motivated by sexual desire.
No. Harassment by co-workers, clients, or vendors can all create employer liability. For non-supervisory harassers, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known and failed to act. For supervisors, the employer is strictly liable regardless of the circumstances.
Not necessarily. For quid pro quo harassment by a supervisor, internal reporting is not required before filing a claim. For co-worker harassment, documenting that the employer knew strengthens your case. Speaking with an attorney before going to HR often protects your position.
A resignation may qualify as constructive termination if working conditions became so intolerable that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to leave. This can support claims for lost wages and back pay. Do not assume resigning forecloses your claim.
Retaliation for reporting harassment is illegal under California Government Code § 12940 and constitutes a separate legal claim with its own damages, including lost wages, emotional distress, and punitive damages.