Harassment is a form of discrimination. It is illegal under federal and/or state laws to harass any employee on the basis of the protected characteristics: Sex/gender, age 40 and over, sexual orientation, race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition or genetic characteristic, martial status, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, family leave, status as domestic violence victim, medical leave, citizenship, and veteran/military status.

Read below for a general overview of this issue, or click here to see FAQs.

Sometimes employees claim that being criticized or disciplined at all is harassment. Unless the discipline is explicitly related to a protected characteristic, it is not illegal under these laws.

However, behavior that is not illegal harassment may still violate other laws. Unwanted touching may not be harassment but it is a battery. Calling someone names may not be harassment, but could be intentional infliction of emotional distress. Exposing oneself may not be illegal harassment but it may be indecent exposure, a criminal offense. And if employees become stressed by unpleasant behavior at work, they may be able to get workers’ compensation benefits.

While reading the information on this site, remember that the law sets a floor for behavior, not a ceiling. As you will see, there is a trend in the law to lower the standard for what is acceptable behavior. Often times courts say that although certain behavior is crude or repugnant it is not serious enough to constitute harassment until and unless someone is unable to perform their job duties – a very low standard indeed!

Remember, though, that just because something is “legal” doesn’t mean that employers are going to tolerate the behavior. Employers have the right to set a higher standard by policy. The employer could require all employees to treat each other with the utmost respect and dignity. As long as the policy is enforced consistently, employees can be terminated for not violating employer policy even if the underlying conduct is not illegal.

Click here for Harassment Law FAQs.