Sexual Harassment Lawyer in San Jose
California sexual harassment representation for San Jose workers, tech, healthcare, the airport, the public sector, hospitality. Free, confidential consultation. We represent employees only.
It usually starts small. A comment you weren't expecting, a hand on the back, a "joke" that wasn't funny. Then it doesn't stop, or it gets worse, or you say something and the schedule changes.
Tech offices, hospital floors, airport concessions, and university departments each have their own version of this. The mechanics are similar - supervisors or coworkers cross the line, the company knows, and nothing changes - and California law gives you a path either way.
Visit our San Jose office at 181 Devine St Suite 4, San Jose, CA 95110 or call (408) 834-4320 for a free, confidential consultation.
What Is Sexual Harassment in San Jose
Sexual harassment in San Jose happens in the same places you go every day: corporate offices, R&D labs, and engineering campuses at Silicon Valley public technology companies headquartered in San Jose including Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO - 170 West Tasman Drive), Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE - 345 Park Avenue), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY - 2025 Hamilton Avenue), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC - 5601 Great Oaks Parkway, 10,001+ employees), HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ), Verifone, Calyx Software, Sage Intacct, and Jabil Circuit; patient floors at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center / SCVMC (751 South Bascom Avenue - 731-bed county-owned public tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with the Stanford University Medical School), Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Regional Medical Center of San Jose, and O'Connor Hospital; classrooms across San Jose State University / SJSU (1 Washington Square - founding campus of the California State University system), the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District (San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College), and multiple K-12 districts (San Jose Unified, East Side Union High School District at 830 N. Capitol Avenue, Berryessa Union, Alum Rock Union, Oak Grove); retail at Westfield Valley Fair, Santana Row, Westgate Mall, and The Plant San Jose; hotels around the San Jose Convention Center (150 West San Carlos Street) including the San Jose Marriott, Hilton San Jose, and Westin San Jose; the Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC); the San Jose Police Department and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office; and City of San Jose offices at 200 East Santa Clara Street. The most common San Jose pattern is unwanted touching, comments, or pressure from a supervisor, coworker, patient, or customer, followed by retaliation when the worker reports it.
San Jose Industries Where Sexual Harassment Is Most Common
- Silicon Valley public-company tech workers - at the major Silicon Valley public technology companies headquartered in San Jose: Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO - 170 West Tasman Drive, leading global networking equipment company), Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE - 345 Park Avenue, leading software company), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY - 2025 Hamilton Avenue), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC - 5601 Great Oaks Parkway, leading data-storage technology company with 10,001+ employees), HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ), Verifone, Calyx Software, and Sage Intacct. Tech workers are covered by all standard California FEHA, Labor Code, and federal Title VII / ADA / ADEA / FMLA protections. Public-company employees are also protected by Sarbanes-Oxley (18 U.S.C. section 1514A) for accounting/securities fraud whistleblower claims and Dodd-Frank section 922 (15 U.S.C. section 78u-6) for securities-law whistleblower claims. Stay-or-pay agreements (training repayment, sign-on bonus clawback, relocation-cost clawback) are void for work performed in San Jose after January 1, 2026 under AB 692 (California Labor Code section 926). Non-competes are void under California Business and Professions Code section 16600 (with AB 1076 and SB 699 making this rule extraterritorial as of January 1, 2024).
- Healthcare workers - at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center / SCVMC (751 South Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128, (408) 885-5000 - 731-bed (574 acute) county-owned public tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with the Stanford University Medical School; the principal safety-net hospital in Santa Clara County), Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Regional Medical Center of San Jose, and O'Connor Hospital. 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 California Nurses Association (CNA) / SEIU-UHW collective bargaining agreements (which do not waive statutory FEHA or California Labor Code rights). SCVMC employees, as county employees, are subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
- Higher education and K-12 workers - at San Jose State University / SJSU (1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192 - founding campus of the California State University system; state-of-California employees subject to civil-service rules and CFA collective bargaining), the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District (San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College), and multiple K-12 districts including the San Jose Unified School District, East Side Union High School District (830 North Capitol Avenue, (408) 347-5000 - one of the largest high school districts in Northern California), Berryessa Union School District, Alum Rock Union School District, and Oak Grove School District. Protected by Skelly v. State Personnel Board (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194 due-process rights, California Whistleblower Protection Act (Cal. Gov. Code section 8547), and the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline (Cal. Gov. Code section 911.2).
- Public-sector and government workers - at the City of San Jose (200 East Santa Clara Street), the County of Santa Clara (San Jose is the county seat), the San Jose Police Department (SJPD), the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, the Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC - owned and operated by the City of San Jose), and the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Peace officers are covered by the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights (POBR, Cal. Gov. Code section 3300 et seq.). Subject to the 6-month Government Claims Act deadline.
- Retail and consumer-services workers - at Westfield Valley Fair (a super-regional shopping center on the San Jose/Santa Clara border, 1,800,000+ sq ft), Santana Row (Federal Realty's mixed-use district), Westgate Mall, The Plant San Jose, and chain retailers throughout the city. San Jose workers covered by the San Jose Minimum Wage Ordinance earn $18.45/hour effective January 1, 2026 (was $17.95/hour for 2025). The San Jose Opportunity to Work Ordinance (effective March 13, 2017) requires employers with 36 or more employees to offer additional work hours to existing qualified part-time workers before hiring new employees - stronger than California state law. Fast-food workers at chains with 60+ national locations earn the $20.00/hour AB 1228 floor (Cal. Labor Code section 1474).
- Hospitality and convention workers - at hotels around the San Jose Convention Center (150 West San Carlos Street) including the San Jose Marriott, Hilton San Jose, Westin San Jose, and dozens of smaller hotels and motels. Hospitality workers are covered by the San Jose Minimum Wage Ordinance and the Opportunity to Work Ordinance. Sexual harassment by hotel guests is covered by FEHA Cal. Gov. Code section 12940(j) (third-party harassment). Tipped restaurant and bar workers earn full San Jose minimum wage of $18.45/hour plus tips (Cal. Labor Code section 351 prohibits tip pooling abuses).
- Manufacturing and biotech workers - at Jabil Circuit, numerous semiconductor and electronics manufacturers throughout San Jose, and biotech operations. Manufacturing workers are covered by Cal/OSHA standards (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8) and California Labor Code section 6310 (retaliation for safety reporting). Federal contractor workers have additional NDAA section 4712 whistleblower protection (41 U.S.C. section 4712). Public-company manufacturing employees also have Sarbanes-Oxley (18 U.S.C. section 1514A) and Dodd-Frank (15 U.S.C. section 78u-6) protection.
San Jose Local Protections
San Jose has its own local worker-protection ordinances. The San Jose minimum wage is $18.45/hour effective January 1, 2026 (was $17.95/hour for 2025) under the San Jose Minimum Wage Ordinance - higher than the California state floor of $16.90/hour. The San Jose Opportunity to Work Ordinance (effective March 13, 2017) requires employers with 36 or more employees to offer additional work hours to existing qualified part-time workers before hiring new employees - stronger than California state law. San Jose workers also rely on California state law including SB 525 (healthcare-worker tiered schedule - directly relevant to SCVMC, Kaiser San Jose, Good Samaritan, Regional Medical Center, and O'Connor Hospital workers) and AB 1228 ($20/hour fast-food).
Sexual harassment in San Jose is governed by FEHA (Cal. Government Code section 12940(j)), which covers any San Jose 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).
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 San Jose
Civil employment lawsuits filed by San Jose workers are heard at the Santa Clara County Superior Court, Hall of Justice, 190-200 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA 95110. 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 (408) 834-4320 before any deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Under FEHA the employer is liable for coworker harassment if it knew or should have known and didn't take immediate corrective action. The same rule applies to vendors, contractors, hotel guests, and customers. What matters is what the company did once it found out. Save every report, every HR email, every schedule change.
Probably not. Under FEHA a worker has three years to file with CRD (Government Code section 12960). For a hostile work environment, the clock starts on the last harassing act, not the first one - that's the continuing-violation doctrine. Federal Title VII deadlines are tighter (300 days to EEOC). Don't wait. The longer a worker sit on it, the more witnesses move on and the harder texts and schedules get to pull.
Yes. California's anti-harassment laws cover all employees regardless of immigration status, and Labor Code section 1171.5 says immigration status is irrelevant to liability. The CRD complaint process is available to a worker, and the Santa Clara County OLSE handles wage-theft investigations regardless of status. Retaliation based on threatening to call ICE is itself unlawful under Labor Code section 1019.
That doesn't end the worker's case. An employer's internal investigation isn't binding on CRD, EEOC, or a court. If a worker complained and got written up, demoted, or had the worker's hours cut within 90 days, SB 497 creates a rebuttable presumption that the action was retaliation. Save the HR response, the worker's original complaint, and anything that changed afterward. Then call workers before deadlines run.
Were You Sexually Harassed at Work?
Speak with a California sexual harassment lawyer today. Free confidential consultation. No fee unless you win. Call 1-800-371-3088.
Legal Disclaimer: This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Employment law is complex and fact-specific. The information on this page reflects California law as of 2026 and may change. If you believe your rights have been violated, please consult a licensed California employment attorney to evaluate your specific situation.