Defining Sexual Harassment - Federal Law

Title VII is a component of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is a federal law. It applies to employers with 15 or more employees (including federal, state, and local governments), private and public colleges and universities, employment agencies, and labor organizations.

Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of the following:

• Sex
• Race
• Color
• National origin
• Religion

FEHA is enforced by an entity called the California DFEH. Similarly, on a federal level, Title VII is enforced by another entity, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the federal government's sexual harassment policies.

The EEOC definition of sexual harassment is "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment."

To learn more about Sexual Harassment Prevention For Employees visit our Cal/OSHA Sexual Harassment Prevention For Employees Online Training web page.