California law protects job applicants from sexual harassment, not only employees. An interviewer, recruiter or owner who makes sexual comments, touches you or ties a job to sex is breaking the law, and the rule applies to an employer with even one employee. You have three years to file a complaint with the state.
This page is for anyone harassed while trying to get work: a job applicant, a candidate for a promotion, an intern, a person sent by a staffing agency, a freelancer pitching for a contract, or a performer at an audition. It covers what counts, who is responsible, what to save, how it is proved and how long you have.
The short answer
- Applicants are named in the statute. The Fair Employment and Housing Act forbids harassing an employee, an applicant, an unpaid intern, a volunteer or a contractor.
- There is no minimum company size. For harassment, an employer is anyone who regularly employs one or more people.
- A job tied to sex is quid pro quo harassment. State regulations define it as conditioning a job or promotion on sexual advances, and they name applicants.
- It does not have to be said out loud. An implied condition counts the same as a stated one.
- One serious incident can be enough. A proposition, a touch or an explicit message does not have to be repeated.
- The person who did it is personally liable. The company usually is as well.
- You do not need to have been hired, and you do not need to have lost the job. The harassment itself is the violation.
What counts as sexual harassment in hiring
| What happened | How the law treats it |
|---|---|
| Comments about your body, looks or clothes | Verbal harassment. A pattern can be enough, and so can one comment that is graphic or degrading |
| Questions about your dating life, marriage, sex life or plans for children | Harassment when the questions are sexual. Questions unrelated to the job that single out applicants by sex, marital status or pregnancy are also unlawful inquiries in their own right |
| Being asked out, or having the interview moved to dinner, drinks, a hotel room or a home | One polite request that takes no for an answer is usually not a claim. It becomes one when it is tied to the job, repeated or pressed |
| Touching, such as a hand on the leg, a long hug or a kiss | Physical harassment. Unwanted sexual touching can also be a crime |
| The job, more pay or a better role offered in exchange for a date or sex | Quid pro quo harassment, whether or not you accept |
| Hints such as "how much do you want this job" | The condition can be implied. The context, and what happened next, decide it |
| Sexual texts, photos or late night messages sent to the number on your resume | Harassment, and usually the best evidence you will have |
| A demand for photos that have nothing to do with the work | An employer may not require a photograph with an application unless it has a lawful job reason |
| The offer disappears after you say no or complain | Quid pro quo harassment, sex discrimination in hiring, or retaliation |
What is usually not enough. A single awkward compliment with nothing further is rarely a legal claim. The law looks for conduct that is severe or pervasive, or for a job decision tied to sex. A hiring process is short, so the cases that succeed usually involve a proposition, touching, explicit messages or a job that was withheld.
Video interviews count the same. What is said or shown on a video call is treated like conduct in a room. See the page on harassment over Zoom, Slack and email.
Who is covered
| Your situation | Are you covered? |
|---|---|
| You applied, or asked to be considered | Yes. Applicants are named in the statute |
| You pulled out because of how you were treated | Yes, for what already happened. The regulations also treat a person who was deterred from applying by an unlawful practice as an applicant |
| You already work there and interviewed for a promotion or transfer | Yes, as an employee |
| You are applying for an internship, apprenticeship or volunteer role | Yes. Unpaid interns, volunteers and training programs are covered |
| A staffing agency or recruiter sent you | Yes. Employment agencies are covered, and so is the company you were sent to |
| You did a trial shift or working interview | Yes. If you did real work, you were an employee for that time |
| You are a freelancer or contractor | Yes, once you are providing services under a contract. While you are still pitching for the work, Civil Code section 51.9 may apply instead |
| You are an actor, model or performer at an audition | Yes, if it is an application for a job. Civil Code section 51.9 also names directors and producers |
Who is responsible
- The person who harassed you. An employee who harasses is personally liable, whatever the company knew.
- The employer, when the person had hiring power. The law treats anyone with authority to hire, or to effectively recommend who is hired, as a supervisor. An employer is liable for harassment by its supervisors and agents whether or not anyone higher up knew.
- The employer, when it was someone else. For a receptionist, a future coworker on the panel or a customer you met during the process, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known and did not act.
- The recruiter's firm. A business that finds applicants or job openings for pay is an employment agency, and the statute applies to it directly.
- A small business. One employee is enough. The page on harassment by an owner of a small company explains how those cases work.
When the job is tied to sex
State regulations define quid pro quo harassment as the explicit or implicit conditioning of a job or promotion on submission to sexual advances or other conduct based on sex. The definition covers applicants in the same words as employees.
If you said no and did not get the job. This is the clearest case. Besides harassment, refusing to hire a person for turning down an advance is sex discrimination in hiring, which applies to employers with five or more employees.
If you went along with it. You can still have a claim. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the question is whether the advances were unwelcome, not whether your participation was voluntary. Giving in because you needed the work does not make it welcome.
If you got the job. You can still act on what happened during hiring, and conduct like this rarely stops on the first day. Keep a record from the start. More on this is in quid pro quo harassment and requests for sexual favors at work.
If there was never a real job. Some people use a job posting or a promise of work only to make contact. Save everything and report the account to the platform. Call the police if you were threatened, touched or pressured for images. A person who holds themselves out as able to get you work may be liable under Civil Code section 51.9 even when no job existed.
Auditions, investors and meetings that are not job interviews
Not every opportunity comes through a job application. Civil Code section 51.9 covers sexual harassment in business, service and professional relationships. It names investors, directors and producers, elected officials, lobbyists, teachers, landlords, doctors and lawyers, and it reaches relationships that are substantially similar. It also covers a person who holds themselves out as able to help you establish that kind of relationship, with them or with someone else.
Three things have to be shown.
- The relationship. A business, service or professional relationship, or the offer to help you get one.
- The conduct. Sexual advances, solicitations, requests or demands, or other sexual or gender-hostile conduct, that was unwelcome and either pervasive or severe.
- The harm. Economic loss or disadvantage, or personal injury, which includes emotional distress.
A person who proves a claim under section 51.9 can recover actual damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees. The statute no longer requires you to show that you could not easily end the relationship.
Talent agencies. A licensed talent agency must give adult artists educational material on sexual harassment prevention, retaliation and reporting resources, in a language the artist understands. It is due within 90 days of agreeing to represent the artist or of arranging an engagement, meeting or interview, whichever comes first.
What to do if it happened to you
- Save the job posting today. Take a screenshot that shows the date and the web address. Postings are taken down.
- Save every message. Emails, texts, messages on job sites, voicemails and calendar invitations that show where and when you met. Take screenshots before you block anyone.
- Write down what happened the same day. The date, time and place, who was there, the exact words, what you said and how it ended.
- Note names and titles. The interviewer, the recruiter, the person at the front desk and anyone else who saw you arrive or leave.
- Tell someone you trust right away. A person who heard about it that day can confirm later that your account is not new.
- Consider reporting it in writing. You can write to the company's HR department, to the staffing agency or to the job platform. An applicant is not required to do this first, but it creates a record and tests how the company responds.
- If you were touched or assaulted, your safety comes first. You can call the police and get medical care. See sexual assault at work.
- Do not secretly record a private conversation. California requires consent from everyone on a confidential call or meeting. The page on evidence, texts and recordings explains the rule and its exceptions.
- Keep track of your job search. What the job would have paid, and what you earned instead, are part of the claim.
- Do not sign anything without advice. That includes an apology letter that comes with a release or a confidentiality term.
How it is proved
Most of this happens with no one else in the room. That does not end the case. Under California law the testimony of one believable witness is enough to prove a fact, and that witness can be you. What usually backs it up:
- The interviewer's own messages. Texts and emails sent after the meeting are the strongest evidence in most hiring cases.
- The timeline. Warm interest before you said no, and silence or a withdrawn offer after it.
- Who got the job. A less qualified person hired, or the same job posted again.
- What you told people that day. Friends, family or a partner who heard about it at the time.
- Other people with the same experience. Other applicants or employees the same person treated the same way.
- The employer's records. California employers must keep applications and hiring records for four years.
What you can recover
- Lost pay. If the harassment cost you the job, the wages and benefits you would have earned, less what you earned elsewhere.
- Emotional distress. Compensation for the anxiety, humiliation and loss of confidence it caused.
- Punitive damages. Available when an owner, officer or managing agent did it, approved it or knowingly kept the person in the role.
- Attorney's fees and costs. A court can order the employer to pay them when you win.
- Changes at the company. A court can order training and changes in hiring practice.
An honest note on value. One offensive interview with no touching and no lost job is a real violation, but the money is usually modest. A withheld job, an assault, or a pattern across several applicants changes that. The method is explained in how much a sexual harassment case is worth.
Deadlines
| Claim | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Harassment, refusal to hire or retaliation under state law | Three years to file with the California Civil Rights Department, then one year to sue after the right to sue notice |
| The same conduct under federal law | 300 days to file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal law applies to employers with 15 or more employees |
| You were under 18 when it happened | The state filing period can be extended to as late as one year after your 18th birthday |
| Sexual assault as an adult | A civil lawsuit can be filed within 10 years of the assault, or within three years of discovering the injury it caused, whichever is later |
| A claim under Civil Code section 51.9 | The statute does not state its own time limit, and it may be shorter than three years. Get advice early |
Every deadline in one place: the statute of limitations for sexual harassment in California.
Questions people ask
Yes. California's Fair Employment and Housing Act names applicants alongside employees. You do not have to have been hired, and you do not have to have finished the hiring process.
Not for harassment. An employer with one employee is covered. A claim that you were refused the job because of your sex requires five or more employees, and the federal law requires 15.
A single polite request with no pressure and no link to the job is usually not enough on its own. It crosses the line when it is tied to the job, repeated after you said no, or comes with sexual comments or touching.
Through the messages, the timing and what the employer did next. Strong interest that ends the moment you refuse, a less qualified person hired, or the job posted again all point the same way. The employer must keep its hiring records for four years.
You can. The legal test is whether the advances were unwelcome, not whether you complied. People give in to this kind of pressure because they need the work, and the law recognizes that.
Yes. The three year period runs from the conduct, and being hired does not erase it. You are now also protected as an employee, and punishing you for reporting it would be retaliation.
The recruiter is personally liable, and a recruiting or staffing firm is covered by the statute as an employment agency. The hiring company can also be responsible if the recruiter acted as its agent, or if it knew and did nothing.
Generally no. California law forbids questions unrelated to the job that express a limitation or preference based on sex, marital status or pregnancy. The questions are evidence of discrimination if you are then turned down.
You can decline and ask to meet at the office or by video. A real employer will agree. Keep the message that proposed the location, because it is evidence of what the meeting was meant to be.
Save every message with the date and the number or account. You do not have to reply. If you do, one short message saying you want contact about the job only is enough. Take screenshots before you block the sender.
No. Refusing to hire a person because they opposed harassment or filed a complaint is retaliation, and the protection covers any person, not only current employees.
Yes. Civil Code section 51.9 covers sexual harassment in business and professional relationships and names directors, producers and investors. It also covers a person who claims to be able to help you get work with someone else.
The same as an adult's. A parent or guardian can act for you now, and the time to file with the Civil Rights Department can be extended to as late as one year after you turn 18. Unwanted sexual contact with a minor should also be reported to the police.
It depends on how serious it was and what it cost you. A lost job, touching or explicit messages make a strong case. A single remark usually does not. A short conversation with a lawyer will tell you which one you have.
Tell us what happened
If you were harassed while applying for work, send us the posting and the messages and tell us what happened. We will tell you whether you have a claim and what it involves. It is free and confidential.
(800) 371-3088 or send what you have.
Related reading: inappropriate touching, rights of witnesses and bystanders, whether you need a lawyer, the full California sexual harassment guide, harassment of nurses, harassment in restaurants, and sexual harassment claims filed by men.
Sources
- California Government Code section 12940, subdivisions (c), (d), (h) and (j): training programs, unlawful inquiries, retaliation, and harassment of applicants.
- California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 11008: definitions of applicant, employment agency, and unpaid interns and volunteers.
- California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 11034, subdivision (f): quid pro quo and hostile work environment harassment, and employer liability.
- California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 11016: recruitment, pre-employment inquiries, applications and interviews.
- California Government Code section 12926 and section 12923: who is a supervisor, the five employee threshold for discrimination, and the single incident rule.
- Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986) 477 U.S. 57: the test is whether the advances were unwelcome.
- California Civil Code section 51.9 and section 52: sexual harassment in business, service and professional relationships, and its remedies.
- California Labor Code section 1700.50: talent agency educational materials.
- California Government Code section 12960 and section 12965: three years to file, the extension for minors, and one year to sue.
- California Government Code section 12946: applications and personnel records kept for four years.
- California Evidence Code section 411 and California Civil Code section 3294: one witness is sufficient, and punitive damages.
- California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16 and California Penal Code section 632: time to sue for sexual assault, and recording confidential conversations.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Time Limits for Filing a Charge. California Civil Rights Department, Complaint Process.
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.