What is considered harassment by law?

Workplace harassment

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and related statutes, harassment is unlawful when it is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, age (40 and over), disability or genetic information. Federal law applies to employers with 15 or more employees (20 for age claims); many state laws cover smaller employers. Two forms are recognized:

• Quid pro quo — a job benefit such as a hire, raise or promotion is conditioned on submitting to conduct, usually sexual. A single instance is enough.
• Hostile work environment — conduct severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would find the workplace abusive. A single extremely serious incident, such as a physical assault, can qualify; ordinary rudeness, a demanding manager or an isolated offensive remark usually does not.

What counts, in practice

Slurs and epithets, offensive jokes, unwanted touching, sexual comments or propositions, displaying offensive images, mocking someone's accent, religion or disability, and threats. The conduct does not have to come from a supervisor — coworkers, and even customers or clients, can create a hostile environment. The person harassed does not have to be the target; witnesses affected by pervasive conduct can have claims as well.

When the employer is responsible

If a supervisor's harassment results in a tangible job action — firing, demotion, loss of pay — the employer is automatically liable. If not, the employer can avoid liability by showing it had a reasonable anti-harassment policy and complaint process and the employee unreasonably failed to use it. For coworker or customer harassment, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known and failed to take prompt corrective action. That is why reporting through the employer's process matters so much.

Retaliation

It is illegal to punish someone for complaining about harassment, taking part in an investigation, or filing a charge. Retaliation is now the most common claim filed with the EEOC, and it can succeed even when the underlying harassment claim does not.

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The deadline that ends most claims

A charge must normally be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 180 days of the conduct, extended to 300 days in states with their own fair-employment agency. This runs long before any lawsuit, and missing it usually ends the federal claim. For ongoing harassment, the charge is timely if at least one act falls within the period. Several states give longer periods under state law — New York and California, for example, allow three years for state claims.

Harassment in housing and schools

The Fair Housing Act prohibits harassment by landlords, property managers and sometimes neighbors based on protected characteristics, including demands for sex in exchange for repairs or rent. Title IX covers sexual harassment in schools and colleges that receive federal funds.

Criminal harassment and stalking

State statutes typically require a course of conduct — repeated acts — directed at a specific person, serving no legitimate purpose, that would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress or fear. Related offenses include cyberstalking, threatening messages, repeated unwanted calls and violations of protective orders. A civil protective or anti-harassment order can usually be sought at the same time, on a lower standard of proof, and violating it is a crime.

What helps in either setting

A record made at the time: dates, what was said or done, who was present, screenshots kept in their original form, and a written report to the employer or the police. Reporting in writing also triggers the employer's legal duty to investigate, and failing to act on a report is part of many successful claims. An employment lawyer can advise on workplace claims, often on contingency; for threats or stalking, contact the police and ask the court clerk about protective orders.

Many states also cover independent contractors and interns under their own harassment laws, even where federal law does not. Remote workers are protected too: harassment by message, video call or chat counts the same as in an office.