Best Practices: What Should an Employee Do if They Believe They Are Being Harassed?

Under California law, it is illegal for an employee to be harassed because of their race, religion, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, and/or military/veteran status.

If an employee believes they have been subjected to unlawful harassment, it is typically the best practice for an employee to take the following steps:

1. Report, in writing, the harassment to their supervisor and/or their company's human resources department.

Try to use as much detail as possible. For example, I believe my supervisor/co-worker “John Doe” is harassing me because of my “race, religion, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military/veteran status.” Then try to give examples. “John Doe said X to me, John Doe did Y to me.”
There is no exact formula that an employee's complaint must follow. Nonetheless, an employee should make clear that they are reporting what they believe is unlawful harassment.

2. Keep a written record of all harassing conduct that has occurred.

Such record should include any and all statements and/or actions that were harassing.

3. Keep a journal that states the impact the harassing conduct has had.

This would include describing how the harassment has impacted the employee's work environment, how the harassment has impacted the employee, and how the employee feels about the harassing conduct.

4. If an employer does not investigate the complaint and/or take prompt action to stop the harassing conduct from occurring, an attorney should be contacted immediately.

Note: An employee should not hesitate to report what they believe to be unlawful harassment. Under California law, it is illegal for an employee to be retaliated against for making a complaint about what they believe to be unlawful harassment. Thus, if an employee makes a complaint about harassment and is thereafter terminated, demoted, disciplined, or has their duties changed, an employee will be able to pursue a claim against their employer for illegal retaliation.