Defining Sexual Harassment - California DOJ

It is possible that a sexual harassment complaint can lead to a serious court case and trial. In these cases, the state and federal definitions will play a large role in determining culpability.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) defines sexual harassment as the following:

"Briefly, sexual harassment refers to both unwelcome sexual advances, or other visual, verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature and actions that create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment based on an employee's sex. Under California law, the offensive conduct need not be motivated by sexual desire but may be based upon an employee's actual or perceived sex or gender-identity, actual or perceived sexual orientation, and/or pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. This definition includes many forms of offensive behavior and includes gender-based harassment of a person of the same sex as the harasser, and actions that subject co-workers to a hostile work environment."

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