TL;DR: The five types of workplace harassment are verbal, physical, visual or written, sexual, and psychological. In California, harassment may be unlawful when it targets someone based on a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, disability, sex, age, or sexual orientation, and meets the applicable legal requirements. Harassment can occur in person or online and may involve supervisors, co-workers, or even customers. Employees who experience harassment can document incidents, report the conduct, and seek legal guidance to understand their rights.
The five common types of harassment at work are verbal, physical, visual or written, sexual, and psychological harassment. These behaviors can involve offensive remarks, unwanted touching, inappropriate images, sexual advances, or repeated intimidation. Workplace harassment may also occur via email, on messaging platforms, and through other online communications.
Not every unpleasant workplace interaction is illegal. Under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), harassment generally becomes unlawful when it targets someone because of a protected characteristic and meets the applicable legal standard.
Recognizing these behaviors can help California employees understand their rights, document incidents, and decide when to report inappropriate conduct.
Key Facts About Workplace Harassment in California
- Protected characteristics matter. California prohibits workplace harassment based on characteristics such as race, religion, disability, sex, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation. (California Civil Rights Department (CRD))
- Harassment can happen online. Offensive emails, workplace messages, and digital images may constitute harassment when they meet the legal requirements. (CRD – Harassment Prevention Guide (2025))
- One serious incident may qualify. A single sufficiently severe act can establish unlawful harassment, although isolated minor offenses generally do not.
- Harassment can involve nonemployees. Customers, vendors, and contractors may harass workers during job-related interactions. Employers may be liable if they know or should know about unlawful harassment and fail to take appropriate corrective action.
- Employers have legal responsibilities. State law requires employers to address harassment, with liability rules that depend partly on who committed the misconduct.
- Employees have reporting protections. California prohibits unlawful retaliation against employees for reporting harassment or participating in protected activities.
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- October 2026
What Are the Five Main Types of Workplace Harassment?
Workplace harassment can take many forms. Employees may experience multiple types simultaneously. The conduct may happen in person, through workplace communications, or while working remotely.
The following five categories describe common ways harassment occurs. They are descriptive categories rather than five separate legal claims.
1. Verbal Harassment
Verbal harassment involves unwelcome spoken comments or language that insult, threaten, humiliate, or intimidate another person. It can be difficult to recognize when offensive behavior develops gradually.
Common examples include:
- Derogatory Remarks: Making insulting comments about an employee’s race, religion, gender, or disability.
- Offensive Jokes: Repeatedly making inappropriate jokes or teasing someone because of a protected characteristic.
- Slurs and Insults: Using degrading language or offensive names toward a co-worker.
- Threatening Comments: Making verbal threats intended to intimidate or frighten an employee.
- Humiliating Statements: Repeatedly belittling someone through comments connected to their protected characteristics.
For example, a supervisor who repeatedly mocks an employee’s accent or national origin may engage in unlawful harassment. The legal assessment depends on the circumstances, including the nature, severity, and frequency of the conduct.
Under California law, offensive behavior need not involve physical contact to support a harassment claim.
2. Physical Harassment
Physical harassment involves unwanted physical contact, threatening behavior, or interference with another person’s ability to move or work safely.
Examples include:
- Unwanted Touching: Touching an employee without consent in an offensive or intimidating manner.
- Pushing or Shoving: Using physical force to threaten, intimidate, or humiliate another worker.
- Blocking Movement: Deliberately preventing someone from leaving or moving freely.
- Physical Threats: Threatening to harm an employee or someone close to them.
- Property-Related Intimidation: Threatening to destroy an employee’s personal belongings.
Physical harassment may also overlap with workplace violence. Depending on the circumstances, serious conduct can raise separate legal concerns involving assault or battery.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health also imposes workplace violence prevention requirements on many employers. Beginning July 1, 2024, most covered employers must maintain a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, provide training, and keep required records.
3. Visual or Written Harassment
Visual or written harassment involves offensive pictures, drawings, messages, or other materials used to intimidate, embarrass, or demean an employee.
This conduct can occur through physical materials or digital communication.
Examples include:
- Displaying racist symbols or offensive drawings in the workplace.
- Sending sexually explicit or degrading images through workplace messaging platforms.
- Circulating written insults directed at someone’s protected characteristics.
- Posting offensive memes or cartoons targeting an employee’s religion, race, or gender.
- Sharing humiliating or discriminatory messages in group chats.
A co-worker who repeatedly shares racist images in a team messaging channel may create a hostile working environment, even when the employees work remotely.
The format of the communication does not determine whether harassment occurred. The content, circumstances, and connection to a protected characteristic remain important.
According to the CRD’s harassment prevention guidance, employers should address inappropriate conduct occurring through workplace communications, including electronic interactions.
4. Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment involves unwelcome conduct based on sex, gender, or related protected characteristics. It can include inappropriate comments, unwanted sexual attention, offensive messages, or physical advances.
California recognizes two commonly discussed forms of workplace sexual harassment:
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Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment: Quid pro quo means an exchange of one thing for another. In workplace harassment situations, it generally involves making employment benefits or decisions depend on an employee’s response to unwelcome sexual demands.
For example, a supervisor might offer a promotion in exchange for sexual favors or threaten to reduce an employee’s hours if they refuse.
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Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment: A hostile work environment may arise when unwelcome sex-based conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter working conditions and create an abusive environment.
Examples include:
- Repeatedly making sexual jokes or offensive comments.
- Sending unwanted sexually suggestive messages.
- Making inappropriate remarks about an employee’s body.
- Displaying offensive sexual images.
- Engaging in unwelcome sexual touching.
Sexual harassment does not have to be motivated by sexual desire. California protections also extend to harassment involving gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and related protected characteristics.
Employees of any gender may experience sexual harassment. The harasser and the affected employee may also be of the same gender.
The CRD’s Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet describes these protections and available reporting options.
5. Psychological Harassment
Psychological harassment involves hostile or intimidating conduct that affects an employee’s emotional well-being. It may include persistent humiliation, threats, exclusion, or deliberate efforts to undermine someone’s work.
Examples include:
- Belittling: Repeatedly making degrading remarks about an employee’s abilities.
- Isolation: Deliberately excluding someone from workplace interactions to humiliate or punish them.
- Intimidation: Threatening termination, demotion, disciplinary action, or other negative consequences to frighten or pressure an employee.
- Work Sabotage: Intentionally interfering with someone’s ability to complete assigned tasks.
- Manipulation: Repeatedly undermining an employee’s confidence through hostile or humiliating behavior.
California also addresses workplace bullying through the concept of abusive conduct.
Under Government Code section 12950.1, abusive conduct includes malicious workplace behavior that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to legitimate business interests. Examples include repeated verbal abuse, intimidation, and deliberate work sabotage.
However, abusive conduct and legally actionable harassment are not automatically the same thing. Bullying generally must involve an additional legal basis, such as discrimination tied to a protected characteristic, to support a FEHA harassment claim.
A single act generally does not constitute abusive conduct under the statutory definition unless it is especially severe and egregious.
Can Workplace Harassment Happen Online?
Yes. Workplace harassment can occur through email, video meetings, workplace chat applications, social media, and other electronic communications.
Employees working remotely or in hybrid arrangements may experience discriminatory conduct without ever meeting the harasser in person.
Examples of online harassment include:
- Sending repeated offensive messages about a co-worker’s race or religion.
- Sharing sexually explicit images in work-related group chats.
- Posting discriminatory remarks about an employee on social media.
- Making humiliating comments during virtual meetings.
- Sending unwanted sexual messages through workplace communication platforms.
Online misconduct can constitute unlawful harassment when it meets the applicable legal requirements. A digital setting does not eliminate an employer’s obligations under California law.
Employees experiencing online harassment should consider preserving relevant screenshots, emails, messages, and other records they are legally permitted to retain.
What Is Discriminatory Harassment at Work?
Discriminatory harassment occurs when unwelcome workplace conduct targets someone because of a legally protected characteristic.
Unlike the five categories describing how harassment happens, discriminatory harassment focuses on why the employee is being targeted.
California’s FEHA protects workers against harassment involving characteristics such as:
- Race and Ethnicity: Racial slurs, offensive stereotypes, or harassment involving ancestry, national origin, or protected hair traits.
- Sexual Orientation: Derogatory comments, offensive jokes, or degrading treatment based on someone’s actual or perceived sexual orientation.
- Gender Identity and Expression: Transphobic slurs, humiliating comments, or other hostility connected to gender identity or expression.
- Age: Offensive remarks or harassment based on age, including protections involving workers aged 40 or older.
- Religion: Mocking someone’s religious beliefs, practices, clothing, or observances.
- Disability: Ridiculing physical or mental disabilities or making degrading comments about an employee’s medical condition.
Discriminatory harassment may be verbal, physical, visual, sexual, or psychological. These forms can overlap within the same workplace situation.
The CRD identifies the protected characteristics covered by state employment discrimination and harassment laws.
When Does Workplace Harassment Become Illegal in California?
Workplace harassment generally becomes unlawful when unwelcome conduct targets a protected characteristic and meets the applicable legal standard.
Under federal law, harassment may be unlawful when enduring offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment or when the behavior is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an abusive working environment.
California also recognizes that a single sufficiently severe incident can establish harassment.
The following comparison shows how similar workplace situations may constitute ordinary workplace conduct or potentially unlawful harassment under California law.
| Workplace Situation | Ordinary Workplace Conduct | Potentially Unlawful Harassment |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Criticism | A supervisor gives constructive feedback about an employee’s work performance. | A supervisor repeatedly humiliates an employee using racial slurs or insults related to a protected characteristic. |
| Workplace Jokes | Co-workers exchange harmless jokes that do not target protected characteristics. | Co-workers repeatedly make offensive jokes about an employee’s religion, disability, or sexual orientation. |
| Disciplinary Action | A manager warns an employee about possible disciplinary action for documented performance problems. | A manager threatens to fire an employee for rejecting sexual advances or reporting unlawful harassment. |
| Workplace Disagreements | Two employees disagree about work assignments, responsibilities, or procedures. | An employee repeatedly directs hostile remarks at a co-worker because of their race, gender, or national origin. |
| Physical Interactions | A co-worker accidentally brushes against another employee in a crowded workspace. | A co-worker deliberately engages in severe, unwanted sexual touching or physically intimidates someone because of a protected characteristic. |
| Workplace Communications | A manager sends reminders about missed deadlines or incomplete assignments. | A manager repeatedly sends degrading messages targeting an employee’s religion, disability, or other protected characteristic. |
Note: These examples are illustrative, not automatic legal classifications.
Under FEHA, harassment generally must be connected to a protected characteristic and meet the applicable legal standard. A single sufficiently severe incident may qualify, while ordinary workplace disputes and legitimate management decisions generally do not. Threats made in response to an employee’s protected complaint may also constitute unlawful retaliation.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains that unlawful harassment depends on the surrounding circumstances, including the severity, frequency, and context of the behavior.
A worker does not have to wait until harassment becomes physically violent before raising concerns.
Can an Employer Be Held Responsible for Workplace Harassment?
Yes. California employers may be legally responsible for workplace harassment, although liability rules depend in part on who engaged in the conduct.
Under the FEHA, employers are generally strictly liable for unlawful harassment committed by supervisors. Different standards apply when harassment comes from co-workers or nonemployees.
Harassment by Supervisors
An employer can be held strictly liable under California’s FEHA when a supervisor commits unlawful harassment.
A supervisor may have authority over employment decisions, including assignments, promotions, discipline, or termination.
The employer’s responsibility does not necessarily disappear because the supervisor acted against company policy.
Harassment by Co-workers
An employer may be liable for harassment by a nonsupervisory employee when it knew or should have known about the misconduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
For example, repeated harassment reported to management may raise employer liability concerns if the company fails to respond appropriately.
Harassment by Customers or Other Third Parties
Workplace harassment can also come from individuals outside the company, including customers, vendors, contractors, and clients.
Under California Government Code Section 12940(j)(1), employers may be responsible for certain harassment by nonemployees when they know or should know about the conduct and fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
Employees do not necessarily lose workplace harassment protections simply because the person responsible is not on the company’s payroll.
What Should You Do If You Experience Harassment at Work?
Employees experiencing potential harassment can take practical steps to document the conduct and report their concerns:
- Document each incident. Record the date, location, people involved, what happened, and any witnesses.
- Preserve relevant evidence. Keep emails, text messages, screenshots, schedules, performance reviews, and other records you may legally retain.
- Review your employer’s harassment policy. Identify the available reporting channels and complaint procedures.
- Report the conduct. Notify human resources, management, or another designated reporting contact when appropriate.
- Keep records of your complaint. Save written reports, responses, and details of any subsequent changes in workplace treatment.
- Consider legal guidance. A California employment attorney can help evaluate the circumstances and explain possible reporting or legal options.
Employees may also submit workplace harassment complaints to the CRD, including when internal reporting has not resolved the issue.
Can You Be Punished for Reporting Harassment?
California law prohibits unlawful retaliation against employees who report workplace discrimination or harassment or otherwise engage in protected activities.
Retaliation may include termination, demotion, discipline, reduced hours, or other materially harmful employment actions connected to protected conduct.
For example, an employee might report repeated sexual harassment and then suddenly lose important assignments or receive disciplinary action because of the complaint.
Not every unfavorable employment decision is retaliation. The connection between the protected activity and the employer’s response matters.
The CRD’s retaliation fact sheet explains the protections available to employees and job applicants.
Get Legal Guidance About Workplace Harassment in California
Workplace harassment can affect an employee’s health, professional relationships, income, and ability to feel safe at work. Understanding whether the conduct violates California law may require reviewing the events, available evidence, and the employer’s response.
If you have experienced workplace harassment or retaliation, you can contact Arash Law at (888) 488-1391 and schedule a free initial consultation. Our California workplace harassment lawyers can discuss your circumstances and help you understand potential legal options.
How Long Do You Have to File a Workplace Harassment Complaint in California?
Employees generally have three years from the alleged unlawful employment practice to begin the CRD complaint process for workplace harassment under California law.
The CRD directs individuals pursuing employment complaints to submit an intake form within three years of the date they were last harmed.
An employee seeking to pursue a private lawsuit generally must first obtain a right-to-sue notice. Additional filing deadlines apply after that notice is issued.
Federal discrimination claims may involve different filing periods and procedures.
Missing an applicable legal filing deadline can prevent an employee from pursuing a claim. Separately, delays in preserving messages, witness information, and other records may affect the strength of the available evidence.
Employees can review the CRD complaint process and right-to-sue procedures to understand the available reporting and filing options.
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Harassment in California
Is Workplace Bullying the Same as Illegal Harassment?
No. Workplace bullying is not automatically unlawful harassment. Under California law, harassment generally must involve a protected characteristic and meet the applicable legal standard. Bullying may still violate employer policies or raise other legal concerns.
Can One Incident Count as Workplace Harassment?
Yes. A single sufficiently severe incident can constitute unlawful workplace harassment. However, minor isolated comments or ordinary workplace disagreements generally do not meet the legal threshold.
How Do I Report a Disrespectful Supervisor?
Document the conduct and follow your employer’s reporting procedure when appropriate. If your supervisor is the person involved, review whether the policy provides another reporting channel, such as human resources or another manager. You may also contact the CRD about potential unlawful harassment.
Can a Customer Harass an Employee?
Yes. Customers and other nonemployees can engage in workplace harassment. California employers may be liable if they knew or should have known about unlawful harassment by a nonemployee and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
Can You Sue for Emotional Distress Caused by Workplace Harassment?
Yes, you may be eligible to sue your employer for emotional distress arising from workplace harassment if your case qualifies. Recovery depends on the legal basis, supporting evidence, and circumstances. Experiencing emotional distress alone does not establish that unlawful harassment occurred.
Can You Report Workplace Harassment After Quitting Your Job?
Yes. Leaving a job does not automatically eliminate the right to report earlier workplace harassment. Applicable filing deadlines still matter, and the circumstances surrounding a resignation may also raise separate legal questions.
Talk to Arash Law About Workplace Harassment
Harassment may begin with offensive comments and develop into repeated intimidation, discriminatory treatment, or unwanted sexual conduct. Even when the behavior appears subtle, documenting what happened can help clarify whether an employer violated California law.
If you believe you have experienced unlawful harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, contact Arash Law at (888) 488-1391 for a free case evaluation. You can discuss what happened, the records you have, and the legal options available to you.
Sources
- California Civil Rights Department. Harassment Prevention Guide. https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2025/04/Harassment-Prevention-Guide-2025.pdf
- California Civil Rights Department. Employment Discrimination. https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/employment/
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Harassment. https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment
- California Civil Rights Department. Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet. https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/03/Sexual-Harassment-Fact-Sheet_ENG.pdf
- California Department of Industrial Relations. Workplace Violence Prevention in General Industry. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/WPV-General-Industry-for-employers-fs.pdf
- California Civil Rights Department. Retaliation Fact Sheet. https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2025/07/Retaliation-Factsheet-English.pdf
- California Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process. https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/complaintprocess/
- * California Legislature. California Government Code § 12940. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=12940.&lawCode=GOV
- * California Legislature. California Government Code § 12950.1. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=12950.1.&lawCode=GOV
Disclaimer
This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this information or contacting the firm does not automatically establish an attorney-client relationship. Every workplace harassment case depends on its specific facts, supporting evidence, and applicable law. Past case results do not guarantee future outcomes. Consult a licensed California attorney for guidance about your circumstances and applicable filing deadlines.
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