The numbers at a glance
- 90% of workers who say they were harassed never take formal action, per the EEOC task force
- 11,837 California right to sue filings in 2024 alleging retaliation for reporting or resisting discrimination or harassment
- 70% of all 2024 California right to sue filings included that retaliation basis
- 18% of EEOC harassment charges ended with a merit resolution in fiscal 2025
- 62% of bullying targets lose their job, per the 2024 national survey
The decision to report harassment is a bet. The worker bets that the employer will act on the complaint and not on the complainer. The numbers below show how that bet has been paying out.
How many report
The EEOC task force estimated that roughly 90 percent of people who experience harassment never file a charge or a formal complaint. It found that the most common responses are to avoid the harasser, downplay what happened, or endure it, and that reporting is the least common response. The reasons given were fear of disbelief, fear of inaction, fear of blame, and fear of retaliation. The 2023 Williams Institute survey of LGBTQ workers found 46 percent were not out to their supervisor, which puts a floor under how much harassment on that basis can ever be reported.
The gap shows in the California counts. CRD received 33,505 intake forms of all kinds in 2024. A sexually hostile environment was alleged in 6,787 right to sue complaints and 449 investigated complaints. If the task force ratio holds, the state's filers are the visible tenth of a much larger group.
What happens to the people who do report
Retaliation is the most frequently alleged basis in California employment filings. In 2024, 11,837 right to sue filings and 1,775 investigated complaints alleged retaliation for reporting or resisting discrimination or harassment. Nationally, 54,350 of the 88,201 EEOC charges filed in fiscal 2025 alleged retaliation, 61.6 percent.
| Year | California right to sue filings alleging retaliation for reporting | Share of all right to sue filings | Investigated complaints alleging it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 11,837 | 69.9% | 1,775 |
| 2023 | 8,533 | 57.0% | 1,832 |
| 2022 | 6,381 | 51.2% | 1,548 |
From our files
A bank teller in California was raped by her branch manager after an after hours gathering that started at work. The bank said the assault happened outside the scope of employment and was not its problem, then fired the manager. Six months later it cut her hours and let her go. The firm framed the case as retaliation for reporting what happened to her, and the bank settled for a substantial confidential amount.
What the filed complaints produce
The EEOC publishes what became of the harassment charges it resolved. In fiscal 2025 it resolved 37,613 harassment charges. 2,878 settled, 3,059 were withdrawn with benefits to the worker, 920 ended with a reasonable cause finding, 22,778 with no reasonable cause and 7,978 were closed administratively. Merit resolutions came to 6,857, or 18.2 percent, and the agency obtained 261.9 million dollars for charging parties without litigation.
California publishes outcomes for its whole caseload rather than for harassment alone. In 2024 CRD closed 5,099 investigated complaints and recorded 872 settlements worth $99,411,396, of which $85,767,631 came from 39 matters handled by its legal division. The agency numbers do not include private settlements or verdicts after a right to sue, which is where most California harassment money changes hands.
What these numbers mean if it happened to you
- Report in writing, to someone above the harasser, and keep a copy. A retaliation claim needs proof the employer knew.
- Anything that gets worse after you report is evidence: schedule cuts, write ups, exclusion, a sudden performance plan.
- A no cause finding from an agency is not the end. It comes with a right to sue, and the agencies do not investigate the way a law firm does.
- A right to sue notice can be requested on day one. Most represented workers in California take that route rather than waiting for an investigation.
Deadlines that decide these cases
A California worker has three years from the last act of harassment or discrimination to file with the Civil Rights Department, and one year after a right to sue notice to file in court. The federal deadline is much shorter, 300 days to file a charge with the EEOC. The counts on this page only include people who filed inside those windows. Everyone who waited too long is missing from every table here.
Reported harassment and paid for it?
Retaliation is its own claim. Get a free, confidential review from a California employment lawyer.
Sources
The figures on this page were taken from the following publications, as released by the agencies. Percentages, changes, sums and rates per 100,000 workers are our own arithmetic from those figures.
- EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, 2016 report, www.eeoc.gov
- Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, LGBTQ people's experiences of workplace discrimination and harassment, 2023 survey, williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu
- Workplace Bullying Institute, 2024 U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, workplacebullying.org
- California Civil Rights Department, 2024 Annual Report (complaint tables and county appendix), calcivilrights.ca.gov
- California Civil Rights Department, 2023 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
- California Civil Rights Department, 2022 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
- EEOC, Table E2a, charges alleging harassment, FY 2010 to FY 2025, www.eeoc.gov
- EEOC, Table E1f, retaliation based charge receipts and resolutions, FY 1992 to FY 2025, www.eeoc.gov
- EEOC, Table E1a, charge receipts by basis or statute, FY 1997 to FY 2025, www.eeoc.gov
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of harassment victims report it?
How common is retaliation after reporting harassment?
What happens after I file a harassment complaint with CRD?
Do most harassment complaints succeed?
Attorney advertising. The figures on this page come from the public sources listed above and are reproduced or computed as described. They are provided for general information and do not constitute legal advice, nor does reading this page create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. If you believe your rights were violated, consult a California employment attorney promptly, filing deadlines apply.