Sexual Harassment Lawyer in Bakersfield

If you experienced sexual harassment at a Bakersfield workplace, you have strong protections under California law. We represent employees only, never employers, and offer a free, confidential consultation. 1-800-371-3088.

What Is Sexual Harassment in Bakersfield

Sexual harassment in Bakersfield happens in the same places you go every day: oil and gas field operations at Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Central California operations headquartered in Bakersfield (more than 750 workers serving the Kern River Oil Field), California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC), and Berry Corporation / Berry Petroleum (NASDAQ: BRY); agricultural fields and packing houses at Grimmway Farms (headquartered in Bakersfield - one of the largest carrot producers in the world), Sun Pacific (Cuties mandarins), Bolthouse Farms, and Wonderful Citrus (Wonderful Pistachios / Wonderful Halos parent); manufacturing at the Frito-Lay (PepsiCo / NASDAQ: PEP) Bakersfield plant; patient floors at Kern Medical (1700 Mount Vernon Avenue - 222-bed acute-care teaching hospital, the only advanced trauma care between Fresno and Los Angeles), Adventist Health Bakersfield (2615 Chester Avenue - 253-bed non-profit hospital, 100+ years), Bakersfield Memorial Hospital / Dignity Health (420 34th Street - 385+ licensed beds, founded 1956), Mercy Hospital Downtown (2215 Truxtun Avenue), and Mercy Hospital Southwest (the only acute-care hospital west of Hwy 99); classrooms at the Kern High School District / KHSD (California's largest 9-12 district with 42,000+ students and 3,500 employees at 5801 Sundale Avenue, founded 1893), the Bakersfield City School District (3,674 staff at 1300 Baker Street), California State University, Bakersfield / CSUB (9001 Stockdale Highway), and Bakersfield College (1801 Panorama Drive - part of the Kern Community College District); retail at the Valley Plaza Mall, The Marketplace, and chain retailers; the Bakersfield Police Department and Bakersfield Fire Department; federal civilian and contractor work at Edwards Air Force Base (eastern Kern County); and City of Bakersfield offices at 1600 Truxtun Avenue (charter city since 1915, council-manager government). The most common Bakersfield pattern is unwanted touching, comments, or pressure from a supervisor, coworker, patient, or customer, followed by retaliation when the worker reports it.

Bakersfield Industries Where Sexual Harassment Is Most Common

• Oil and gas extraction workers at Chevron, CRC, and Berry Petroleum - at Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Central California operations headquartered in Bakersfield, which employ more than 750 workers (engineers, environmental scientists, geologists, and field staff) serving the Kern River Oil Field and other San Joaquin Valley operations; at California Resources Corporation / CRC (NYSE: CRC); and at Berry Corporation / Berry Petroleum (NASDAQ: BRY). Kern County is one of the nation's leading energy producers. Oil and gas workers are covered by Cal/OSHA Process Safety Management standards (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, section 5189), the federal OSH Act section 11(c) (29 U.S.C. section 660), the Clean Air Act whistleblower provision (42 U.S.C. section 7622), and California Labor Code section 6310 (retaliation for safety reporting). Public-company employees of Chevron (NYSE: CVX), CRC (NYSE: CRC), and Berry Corporation (NASDAQ: BRY) are also protected by Sarbanes-Oxley (18 U.S.C. section 1514A) and Dodd-Frank section 922 (15 U.S.C. section 78u-6). Heavy-equipment operators and field workers are non-exempt employees entitled to overtime under Cal. Labor Code section 510.
• Agricultural and farmworker employees - in the carrot, mandarin, citrus, almond, pistachio, grape, and row-crop fields and packing houses surrounding Bakersfield. Major Kern County agricultural employers include Grimmway Farms (headquartered in Bakersfield - one of the largest carrot producers in the world), Sun Pacific (Cuties mandarin oranges - on the EDD Major Employer list for Kern County), Bolthouse Farms, Wonderful Citrus (Wonderful Pistachios / Wonderful Halos parent), and many smaller grower-shippers. Agricultural workers are covered by: (1) the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA, Cal. Labor Code section 1140 et seq.) with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) handling unfair labor practice claims; (2) AB 1066 (Cal. Labor Code section 857) daily/weekly overtime for farmworkers (8 hours per day, 40 hours per week threshold phased in by 2022); (3) Cal/OSHA heat illness prevention regulations (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, section 3395) - especially critical in the hot San Joaquin Valley summer; and (4) protections for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers under MSPA (29 U.S.C. section 1801 et seq.).
• Manufacturing workers at Frito-Lay - at the Frito-Lay (PepsiCo / NASDAQ: PEP) Bakersfield manufacturing plant. Manufacturing workers are covered by Cal/OSHA standards (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8), California Labor Code section 6310 (retaliation for safety reporting), and federal OSH Act section 11(c) (29 U.S.C. section 660). Production-line workers are non-exempt employees entitled to overtime under Cal. Labor Code section 510. Public-company employees of PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) are also protected by Sarbanes-Oxley (18 U.S.C. section 1514A) and Dodd-Frank section 922 (15 U.S.C. section 78u-6).
• Healthcare workers - at Kern Medical (1700 Mount Vernon Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93306 - 222-bed acute-care teaching hospital; the only advanced trauma care between Fresno and Los Angeles; Kern County's safety-net hospital, governed by the Kern County Hospital Authority), Adventist Health Bakersfield (2615 Chester Avenue - 253-bed non-profit hospital that has served Kern County for more than 100 years; legal name "San Joaquin Community Hospital dba Adventist Health Bakersfield"), Bakersfield Memorial Hospital / Dignity Health (420 34th Street - more than 385 licensed beds; founded 1956), Mercy Hospital Downtown (2215 Truxtun Avenue, Dignity Health), and Mercy Hospital Southwest (Dignity Health - the only acute-care hospital west of Highway 99, recently expanded with a 106-bed tower including 16 orthopedic + 24 ICU + 18 NICU beds - the first Kern County NICU with private family suites). Covered by SB 525 healthcare-worker minimum-wage schedule (Cal. Labor Code sections 1182.14, 1182.15, 1182.16), California Health and Safety Code section 1278.5 ($25,000-per-violation civil penalty for patient-safety retaliation), and CNA / SEIU-UHW collective bargaining agreements. Kern Medical employees, as workers of a Kern County Hospital Authority public agency, may have public-sector protections including the 6-month government-claim deadline.
• Education workers at KHSD, BCSD, CSUB, and Bakersfield College - at the Kern High School District / KHSD (California's LARGEST grades 9-12 high school district with over 42,000 students and 3,500 employees across 19 comprehensive high schools plus 5 alternative and magnet schools; district office at 5801 Sundale Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93309-2924; (661) 827-3100; founded 1893), the Bakersfield City School District / BCSD (K-8 with approximately 3,674 staff at 1300 Baker Street, (661) 631-4600), the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, California State University, Bakersfield / CSUB (9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311; part of the CSU system), and Bakersfield College (1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93305; part of the Kern Community College District / KCCD - one of California's oldest community colleges, serving Kern County for over 100 years). K-12 teachers are covered by the California Education Code sections 44930-44987 (permanent teacher tenure, dismissal procedures, and Skelly hearings). CSUB faculty are covered by the CSU collective bargaining agreement (CFA contract). All public-school, community-college, and CSU employees are subject to the 6-month government-claim deadline.
• Retail and consumer-services workers - at the Valley Plaza Mall, The Marketplace, Outlets at Tejon (in nearby Tejon Ranch), and chain retailers along Stockdale Highway, Rosedale Highway, Ming Avenue, and California Avenue, including Costco, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and many fast-food and restaurant chains. Fast-food workers at chains with 60+ national locations earn the $20.00/hour AB 1228 floor (Cal. Labor Code section 1474).
• Government and public-sector workers - at the City of Bakersfield (1600 Truxtun Avenue - charter city since 1915 with a council-manager form of government), the Bakersfield Police Department (officers subject to POBR / Cal. Gov. Code section 3300 et seq.), the Bakersfield Fire Department, Kern County government, and Edwards Air Force Base (in eastern Kern County - federal civilian employees covered by the Civil Service Reform Act / CSRA, 5 U.S.C. section 2302, and the Whistleblower Protection Act / WPA and WPEA, 5 U.S.C. section 2302(b)(8); federal contractors covered by NDAA section 4712 / 41 U.S.C. section 4712 and the False Claims Act anti-retaliation provision, 31 U.S.C. section 3730(h)). Subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline for state and local public employers.
• Warehouse and logistics workers - along the State Route 99 / Interstate 5 corridor. Warehouse workers are protected by the Warehouse Quotas Act (AB 701, Cal. Labor Code sections 2100-2112) - which requires written quota disclosures, prohibits undisclosed quotas, and prohibits quotas that prevent compliance with meal/rest breaks or OSHA. Workers may also have client-employer joint liability claims under Cal. Labor Code section 2810.3 if working through staffing agencies.

Bakersfield Local Protections

Bakersfield has no separate citywide minimum-wage, hotel-worker, fair-workweek, healthcare-worker, or paid-sick-leave ordinance beyond California state law. Bakersfield is a charter city (1915 charter) - one of the oldest big-city charters in California (along with Sacramento 1921 and Long Beach 1921) - operating under the council-manager form of government. Bakersfield workers rely on the state-level floor under California Labor Code section 1182.12 ($16.90/hour effective January 1, 2026) plus industry-specific state rules including AB 1228 ($20/hour fast-food), SB 525 (healthcare-worker tiered schedule - directly relevant to Kern Medical, Adventist Health Bakersfield, Bakersfield Memorial, and Mercy Hospitals workers), and AB 1066 (farmworker overtime - directly relevant to Bakersfield's massive carrot, citrus, almond, pistachio, and grape farmworker population).

Sexual harassment in Bakersfield is governed by FEHA (Cal. Government Code section 12940(j)), which covers any Bakersfield employer with 1 or more employees for harassment claims, and by federal Title VII (15 or more employees). California also requires sexual-harassment prevention training for all employees of companies with 5 or more workers (Cal. Government Code section 12950.1). In a notable Bakersfield-area case, Chevron Corporation agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a sexual-harassment retaliation lawsuit brought by four women (LA Times) - illustrating that Bakersfield's largest private employer has paid significant Title VII / FEHA settlements. The California DFEH also settled a Kern County employer sex and national-origin discrimination case in 2019.

California Law

California gives you broad statewide protection against sexual harassment. For the full statutory framework, deadlines, and how the state laws fit together, see our California employment law page and the in-depth California Sexual Harassment Guide.

What Compensation Can You Recover

California does not cap damages for sexual harassment claims. For a full breakdown of what you can recover, see the California Sexual Harassment Guide.

How to File a Sexual Harassment Claim in Bakersfield

Civil employment lawsuits filed by Bakersfield workers are heard at the Kern County Superior Court, Metropolitan Division, 1415 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301. For agency contacts, deadlines, and the full filing process, see our California employment law page. We handle the filing process for you, call us at 1-800-371-3088 before any deadline.