Sexual Harassment

Though federal and state law protect against harassment based on any protected class, there are some rules and circumstances unique to sexual harassment claims, which warrant further discussion.

It doesn’t matter if the harasser and the victim are of the same sex. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome conduct of a verbal or physical nature, regardless of the gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation of the harasser or the victim.¹

It also doesn’t matter if the harassing conduct is motivated by sexual desire. Under FEHA, sexually harassing conduct does not need to be motivated by sexual desire to be² For