Most workplace misconduct cases start with words. Some do not. When conduct crosses from comments and pressure into unwanted physical contact, coerced sexual acts, or assault, you are no longer dealing only with harassment law. You are dealing with workplace sexual violence, and California gives you more legal tools than most people realize.
Those tools come from two different bodies of law that many survivors never learn are connected: employment law and personal injury law. Understanding how they fit together is what determines whether you recover from the individual who harmed you, the employer who allowed it, or both.
Here is what California law actually provides, and how you protect yourself while you decide what to do.
What Counts as Workplace Sexual Violence Under California Law?
There is no single statute labeled “workplace sexual violence.” The term describes conduct that qualifies under several overlapping laws at once:
- Sexual assault or battery. Any unwanted sexual touching is a civil battery. A credible threat of that contact is a civil assault. Criminal charges are not required for either claim.
- Severe hostile work environment harassment. Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), a single act of physical sexual misconduct can be severe enough to establish a hostile work environment on its own.
- Coerced sexual conduct. Quid pro quo pressure that escalates into physical contact is both harassment and assault, and it falls squarely within workplace sexual violence.
The person responsible does not have to be your supervisor. Workplace sexual violence claims routinely involve coworkers, clients, vendors, patients, contractors, and third parties who have access to your worksite. The location does not have to be the office either. Work travel, offsite events, client dinners, and company housing all count.
Two Separate Tracks: A Criminal Case and a Civil Claim
Survivors of workplace sexual violence often assume that if the district attorney declines to file charges, the matter is closed. That is not how California works.
A criminal case belongs to the state. The prosecutor decides whether to charge, the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, and the outcome is punishment, not compensation to you.
A civil claim belongs to you. You decide whether to file. The standard of proof is a preponderance of the evidence, which is a materially lower bar. The remedy is money damages, and in many cases injunctive relief and attorney’s fees.
California law is explicit on this point. A civil claim for sexual assault at work in CA does not require a criminal prosecution, a conviction, or even a police report. Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16 states that no criminal proceeding needs to have been brought, and that a claim may proceed against people and entities other than the person who committed the act.
That last clause is where employment law enters.
When Your Employer Is Legally Responsible
This is the question that determines the real value of most workplace sexual violence cases, because the employer usually has the insurance, the assets, and the records.
California recognizes several routes to employer liability:
Strict liability for supervisors. Under FEHA, an employer is strictly liable for harassment committed by a supervisor. There is no “we didn’t know” defense.
Knew or should have known. For harassment by a coworker or a non-employee such as a client or patient, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. Prior complaints, prior transfers, and prior “informal” resolutions all matter here.
Negligent hiring, supervision, and retention. If the employer hired someone with a known history, ignored red flags, or kept the person in a role with unsupervised access after complaints, that is a separate negligence claim.
Ratification. This is the theory most people have never heard of, and it is powerful. If an employer learns what an employee did and then approves it after the fact, the employer adopts the conduct as its own.
That is the core of C.R. v. Tenet Healthcare Corp. (2009) 169 Cal.App.4th 1094. A certified nursing assistant was alleged to have repeatedly sexually abused people at a medical center. The trial court threw the case out. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding that allegations the company knew about the misconduct, continued to employ him anyway, and destroyed documents were enough to state a claim that it ratified his conduct. The court also confirmed a corporation can be held liable as a “person” under Civil Code section 51.9, and that no fiduciary relationship needs to be alleged. You can read the full opinion here.
The practical takeaway on assault battery employer liability is this: what your employer did after it found out is often as legally significant as the assault itself. Cover-ups, shredded files, quiet transfers, and pressure to sign an NDA are not just bad behavior. They are evidence.
Claims Against the Individual Who Harmed You
Separate from anything your employer did, you can sue the individual directly for assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
California also provides a dedicated civil rights claim. Civil Code section 52.4, the Gender Violence Act, allows anyone subjected to gender violence to sue for actual, compensatory, and punitive damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs. Gender violence includes a physical intrusion of a sexual nature under coercive conditions, whether or not criminal charges were ever filed.
One limitation to understand: section 52.4 does not create employer liability based on employer status alone. Claims against the company have to run through FEHA, negligence, or ratification theories instead. This is exactly why workplace sexual violence cases need to be pleaded across both practice areas rather than one.
The Filing Deadlines, Including a Window That Is Open Right Now
Deadlines in workplace sexual violence cases are not uniform, and missing one can end an otherwise strong claim.
- Civil sexual assault claims: the later of 10 years from the last act, or 3 years from when you discovered your injury was caused by the assault.
- FEHA claims: you generally must submit an intake form to the California Civil Rights Department within 3 years of the last harm, then obtain a right-to-sue notice. The CRD explains its complaint process here.
- A revival window through December 31, 2027: Assembly Bill 250, signed in October 2025, reopened previously time-barred adult sexual assault claims against entities alleged to have covered up allegations. “Cover up” is defined to include the use of nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements to keep information from becoming public. Related claims, including wrongful termination and harassment claims, can be revived alongside it.
If your case was closed years ago because a lawyer told you the deadline had passed, that advice may no longer be correct.
A Civil Protection Order Can Address Immediate Safety
Litigation takes time. Safety does not wait for it, and workplace sexual violence often involves someone you are still expected to work beside.
If you need distance from the person now, a civil protection order is the faster path. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6, you can petition for a civil harassment restraining order yourself against a coworker, client, or vendor. A judge can order no contact, stay-away distances from your home and worksite, and firearm relinquishment.
Your employer has its own tool under section 527.8. Since January 1, 2025, that statute covers harassment as well as violence and credible threats, so an employer no longer has to wait for conduct to escalate before petitioning. Only the employer or a collective bargaining representative can file that petition, which is a useful thing to know when you ask HR what it plans to do.
Requesting a civil protection order also creates a dated, sworn record of what happened. That record tends to matter later.
What to Document Starting Today
Documentation is what separates a strong workplace sexual violence claim from a difficult one. Start now, and keep everything off company systems.
- Write a dated account of each incident. Date, time, location, exactly what happened, exactly what was said, and who else was present.
- Preserve every message. Screenshot texts, emails, Slack messages, and voicemails. Save them to a personal device or account.
- Report in writing. Verbal reports disappear. A written complaint creates the notice that triggers your employer’s legal obligation to act, and it is the foundation of a ratification or “knew or should have known” theory. Our workplace sexual harassment guide walks through how to structure that complaint.
- Log the response. Who you told, when, what they promised, what they actually did, and how long it took.
- Seek medical or therapeutic care. Contemporaneous records document injury and support damages.
- Note every witness. Including anyone who told you the same person had done this before.
Retaliation Is a Separate Violation
Reporting sexual misconduct is protected activity. If your employer demotes you, cuts your hours, changes your schedule, isolates you, builds a sudden paper trail of performance problems, or terminates you after you report, that is a separate FEHA violation with its own damages.
Retaliation claims are frequently the strongest part of a workplace sexual violence case, because the timeline is documented and the employer’s stated reasons are easy to test. Track the dates carefully.
Where This Leaves You
California treats workplace sexual violence as both a civil rights violation and a personal injury, and it lets you pursue the individual and the institution at the same time. The deadlines are longer than most people assume, the revival window is currently open, and what your employer did after learning the truth can be the most valuable evidence in the case.
If you have experienced sexual assault or violence at work in California, you can contact Nabati Law for a confidential consultation to discuss your options. There are no upfront costs. Learn more about our sexual assault and abuse practice.
This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Deadlines and outcomes depend on the specific facts of your situation.
