State Laws

In addition to federal laws that prohibit unlawful harassment and discrimination, some states have similar (and sometimes more far-reaching) laws. The following states have laws regarding sexual harassment that apply to private employers.

Remember that federal law is controlling, unless the state's law offers more protection to the employees, in which case the state law is controlling. Where no employer policy, notice to employees, or posting is specified, the state has been designated with an asterisk (*). In these cases federal posting requirements, policy, and notice requirements must be complied with. Failure to do so may be a violation of federal law.




Alaska        California       Colorado*       Connecticut       Delaware       Hawaii*       Idaho*       Illinois*       Maine      

Massachusetts       Minnesota*       New Hampshire*       New Jersey*       North Dakota*       Pennsylvania*      

Rhode Island       Vermont       Washington*       West Virginia*       Wisconsin*



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Alabama*

Alabama courts permit employees to sue their employers for sexual harassment based on an invasion of the employees' right to privacy. Employers with one or more employees are covered.

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Alaska

Employers with 15 or more employees are covered. No employer policy is specified. Covered employers are required to post in their workplaces a notice prepared by the state Commission for Human Rights that:

    1. Sets out the federal definition of sexual harassment;

    2. Advises employees of the name, address, and telephone number of each of the state and federal agencies to which inquiries and complaints concerning sexual harassment may be made; and

    3. Sets out the deadlines for filing a complaint of sexual harassment with the agencies listed in (2) above.

The notice is to be posted in prominent and accessible locations where each employee will be able to read the notice during the course of the employee's regular work duties.

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California

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Employers must act to ensure a workplace free from sexual harassment by distributing to each employee an information sheet on sexual harassment. An employer may either distribute the brochure prepared by the state (DFEH-185) or develop an equivalent document. An equivalent document contains the following elements:

Employers must post in the workplace a poster made available by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

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Colorado*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Harassment that results in discrimination in employment on the basis of sex is a violation of Colorado's Anti-discrimination Act. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

The Commission encourages all employers to take the steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring, such as affirmatively raising the subject, expressing strong disapproval, developing appropriate sanctions, informing employees of their right to raise and how to raise the issue of harassment under the Act, and developing methods to sensitize all concerned.

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Connecticut

Employers of 50 or more workers are covered by Connecticut's sexual harassment training law and employers of three or more are covered by its posting law. Employers of three or more employees must post information concerning the illegality of sexual harassment in a prominent and accessible location in the workplace.

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Delaware

Employers are required to conspicuously post notices setting forth pertinent provisions of the Delaware Fair Employment Practices Act, including its anti-harassment provisions, and explaining how to file a complaint.

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Hawaii*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of state law in Hawaii. Prevention is the best technique for the elimination of sexual harassment. Employers should affirmatively raise the subject, express strong disapproval, develop appropriate sanctions, inform employees of their right to raise and how to raise the issue of sexual harassment, and take any other steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.

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Idaho*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Information concerning sexual harassment is included in the educational brochure Sexual Harassment on the Job, reprinted in 1984 by the Idaho Human Rights Commission.

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Illinois*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. It is a civil rights violation for any employer in Illinois to engage in sexual harassment.

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Maine

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Annually, employers must provide employees with an individual written notice that includes, at a minimum, the following information:

The notice must be delivered to employees in a manner that will ensure that all receive notice, such as including it with employee paychecks.

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Massachusetts

Employers of six or more employees must:

    1. Adopt a policy against sexual harassment that must include:


      1. A statement that sexual harassment in the workplace is unlawful;


      2. A statement that it is unlawful to retaliate against an employee for filing a complaint of sexual harassment or for cooperating in an investigation of a complaint for sexual harassment;


      3. A description and examples of sexual harassment;


      4. A statement of the range of consequences for employees who are found to have committed sexual harassment;


      5. A description of the process for filing internal complaints about sexual harassment and the work addresses and telephone numbers of the person or persons to whom complaints should be made; and


      6. The identity of the appropriate state and federal employment discrimination enforcement agencies, and directions as to how to contact them.


    2. Provide annually to all employees an individual written copy of the employer's policy against sexual harassment; provided, however, that a new employee must be provided such a copy at the time of employment.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination will prepare and provide to employers a model policy.

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Minnesota*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Minnesota courts have held that the state's statutory prohibition against sex discrimination in employment includes a prohibition against sexual harassment that impacts on the conditions of employment when the employer knows or should have known of the conduct alleged to constitute sexual harassment and fails to take timely and appropriate action.

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New Hampshire*

Harassment on the basis of sex constitutes unlawful sex discrimination, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

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New Jersey*

Employers with one or more employees are covered.

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North Dakota*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. North Dakota employers are responsible for their acts and the acts of their supervisory personnel if the employer knows or should know of the sexual harassment and fails to take timely and appropriate action.

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Pennsylvania*

Employers with one or more employees are covered.

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Rhode Island

Every employer of 50 or more employees must:

    1. Adopt a policy against sexual harassment that includes:

      1. A statement that sexual harassment in the workplace is unlawful;

      2. A statement that it is unlawful to retaliate against an employee for filing a complaint of sexual harassment or for cooperating in an investigation of a complaint for sexual harassment;
      3. A description and examples of sexual harassment;
      4. A statement of the range of consequences for employees who are found to have committed sexual harassment;

      5. A description of the process for filing internal complaints about sexual harassment and the work addresses and telephone numbers of the person or persons to whom complaints should be made; and

      6. The identity of the appropriate state and federal employment discrimination enforcement agencies, and directions as to how to contact such agencies; and


    2. Provide to all employees a written copy of the employer's policy against sexual harassment; provided, however, that a new employee must be provided such a copy at the time of his or her employment.


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Vermont

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Every employer must adopt a policy against sexual harassment that includes:

Individual written copies of the employer's policy against sexual harassment must be provided to each employee. New employees must receive a copy upon their being hired.

Employers must post in a prominent and accessible location in the workplace, a poster providing, at a minimum, the policy elements specified above. The Commissioner of Labor and Industry will prepare a model poster to be provided to employers that are subject to the law.

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Washington*

Employers with one or more employees are covered. Case law in Washington interprets the state's unfair labor practices law to include sexual harassment as an unfair labor practice, such as, for example, forcing employees to endure offensive and unwelcome sexual advances by a supervisor or employer.

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West Virginia*

Employers with one or more employees are covered.

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Wisconsin*

Employers may not engage in, permit or make submission to sexual harassment any part of the basis for employment decisions affecting employees, or permit harassment to substantially interfere with an individual's work performance or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.


* These states have no specific employer policy, notice to employees, or posting requirements. As such, federal posting requirements, policy, and notice requirements must be complied with. Failure to do so may be a violation of federal law.

Disclaimer: This document is intended to apprise our readers about various state laws that are published in addition to the federal laws that prohibit unlawful harassment and discrimination. It contents are based on generally known to others and publicly available information obtained at the time this report was complied. There is nothing contained in this document that is meant to provide any legal advise or legal opinions whatsoever. If you have a legal concern about an incident of unlawful harassment or discrimination, please contact the appropriate state agency or an attorney who practices employment law.