Your own testimony is evidence. In California the testimony of one believable witness is enough to prove a fact, and no law requires an eyewitness, a recording or a confession. The texts, emails, notes and people you told are there to back you up.
Most people who call us think they have no proof because nobody else was in the room. They usually have more than they realize. This page covers what counts as evidence, how to save it properly, California's strict law on secret recordings, how to get records from your employer, and the mistakes that damage good cases.
The short answer
- Your word counts. One witness who is believed is enough to prove a fact.
- The standard is "more likely true than not." It is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Save everything, including your own replies and anything that embarrasses you.
- Keep the phone. A screenshot is a copy. The device holds the original.
- Do not secretly record a private conversation. California requires the consent of everyone in it.
- Texts, emails and voicemails are different. The sender created them. Keeping them is legal.
- Store evidence on your own devices and accounts, never on the employer's.
- You can get your personnel file in 30 days and your payroll records in 21.
What has to be proved, and what proves it
| What you need to show | Evidence that shows it |
|---|---|
| That it happened | Your testimony, messages, voicemails, photos, notes made at the time, anyone who saw or heard it |
| That it was unwelcome | What you said in response, steps you took to avoid the person, complaints, what you told friends and family at the time |
| That it was serious or repeated | A dated timeline, a run of messages, other employees who were targeted by the same person |
| That the employer knew | Written complaints, emails with HR, earlier complaints about the same person. This matters most when the harasser is a coworker or a customer. An employer is automatically responsible for a supervisor's harassment |
| What it did to you | Medical and therapy records, people close to you, missed work, your performance before and after |
| Retaliation | Dates. The complaint first, then the write-up, the cut in hours, the demotion or the firing. Reviews and pay records from before and after |
No single item has to carry the case. A timeline, a dozen messages and two people you confided in will usually persuade more than one dramatic piece of proof.
Text messages and chat apps
Messages are the strongest evidence most people have. They carry the harasser's own words, with a date and time attached. Preserve them properly.
- Capture the name, number, date and time. If the app hides the time of each message, reveal it before you take the screenshot. Capture the contact card that shows the number behind the name.
- Capture the whole conversation. Include your own replies and the dull parts. A thread with gaps invites the claim that you cut something out.
- Export the thread if the app allows it. Many apps can save a whole conversation to a file.
- Turn off automatic deletion. Set messages to be kept forever. Turn off disappearing messages where you control the setting.
- Use a second device for apps that erase messages or tell the sender when you take a screenshot. Photograph the screen.
- Keep the phone. Do not trade it in, reset it or let a repair shop wipe it.
- Make two copies. Email the files to a personal address and keep a second copy in a personal cloud account.
- Write nothing you would not want a jury to read. Your messages are evidence too.
If your replies were friendly. Many people answer a boss politely, joke along or change the subject to keep the peace. That does not end a claim. The question is whether the conduct was unwelcome, and courts understand that people go along to keep a job. Hiding those replies would hurt you far more than the replies do.
If the messages are gone. A phone bill can still show that calls and texts were exchanged and when. The other person's device and the service provider may still hold the content. A lawyer can demand that they be preserved.
Work email, Slack and Teams
The employer owns these systems, can read them, and can shut off your access the minute you are suspended or fired. Act before that happens.
- Write down what exists. For each message, note the date, time, sender, channel and the exact words. A lawyer can then demand that specific message.
- Photograph the screen with your own phone. Limit this to messages sent to you or about you that concern the harassment.
- Ask before you forward. Some company policies forbid sending work email to a personal account, and employers raise it later. Get advice first.
- Leave business files alone. Customer lists, financial data, and other people's personnel or medical information are not yours to take. Taking them can be used to justify a firing, to limit what you recover, or to sue you.
- Do not use work devices for your case. No notes, no drafts, no emails to a lawyer. A California court held that emails an employee sent to her lawyer from a work computer were not protected by attorney-client privilege, because company policy warned that the system was monitored.
The employer has to keep its records. California requires employers to keep personnel records for at least four years. Once the employer has notice of a complaint filed with the Civil Rights Department, it must keep all related records until the matter is completely over. A lawyer's preservation letter extends that demand to chat logs, emails, badge data and security video. Video is often recorded over within weeks, so the letter should go out early.
More on harassment that happens on screen: remote work harassment.
Can I record my boss? California's rule
Not secretly, in a private conversation. California Penal Code section 632 makes it a crime to record a confidential communication without the consent of every person in it. The rule covers conversations in person, on the phone and on video calls.
A communication is confidential when the circumstances reasonably show that a party wants it kept to those present. The California Supreme Court has said the test is whether a party has a reasonable expectation that the conversation is not being overheard or recorded. A closed-door meeting with a supervisor or HR will usually meet it.
| Consequence | The rule |
|---|---|
| It cannot be used | The recording is not admissible in any court, agency or other proceeding, except to prove the illegal recording itself |
| Criminal penalty | A fine of up to $2,500 per violation, up to a year in jail, or both, for a first offense |
| Civil liability | The person recorded can sue for $5,000 per violation or three times their actual damages, whichever is greater. They do not have to show any actual harm |
| Damage to your case | The employer will use the recording to attack your credibility and may counter-sue |
The narrow exception. Penal Code section 633.5 lets a party record to gather evidence reasonably believed to relate to the other person committing extortion, kidnapping, bribery, a felony involving violence against a person, domestic violence, or the crime of making obscene or threatening calls and electronic messages. Unwanted comments and propositions fall outside it. A threat or an assault may fall inside it. That is a legal question to answer before you press record, not after.
| Item | Why it is different |
|---|---|
| Voicemails left for you | The caller chose to leave a recorded message. Save the audio file, because carriers delete old voicemail |
| Texts, emails and chat messages | They are writings the sender created and sent to you |
| A meeting everyone was told is being recorded | A video platform's recording notice tells every participant |
| A recording everyone agreed to | Consent of all parties makes it lawful. Get the agreement on the recording itself |
California's rule also applies to a call between a person in California and a person in another state.
Better than a secret recording:
- Notes within the hour. Write down the exact words while you still have them.
- A confirming message. "Confirming what you said to me today at 3 p.m. in your office." A person who reads that and does not deny it has a problem later.
- Ask to record. If the answer is no, note that you asked.
- Move it to writing. Answer a verbal comment by email or text.
- Bring someone. Ask for a coworker or an HR representative to be present.
If you already recorded something: do not delete it, share it or post it. Tell your lawyer at the first meeting.
Your own notes
Notes made at the time are evidence, and they keep your account consistent over the months a case takes.
- Write the same day. Date, time, place, the exact words in quotation marks, who was nearby, what you did, who you told.
- Write facts. "He put his hand on my lower back and said I should wear that skirt more often" is evidence. "He was inappropriate" is a conclusion.
- Never rewrite an old entry. If you remember more, add a new dated entry.
- Keep them at home or on a personal device. Emailing an entry to your personal address fixes its date.
- Expect them to be read. Notes can be requested by the other side in a lawsuit. Notes you prepare for your lawyer are generally protected.
A full method with a sample log: how to document workplace harassment.
Witnesses, and people you told
- You do not need an eyewitness. Most harassment happens with no one watching, and juries know it.
- People you told at the time. A partner, a friend, a coworker, a doctor or a therapist can confirm that you spoke up then and what state you were in.
- Coworkers who saw or heard part of it. A person who saw one incident supports your account of the rest.
- Other people the same person targeted. California courts allow evidence that the harasser treated other employees the same way, to show intent and motive. That can include conduct you did not see yourself.
- Former employees. People who have left often speak more freely.
California law forbids retaliation against a person who supports a harassment complaint or testifies about one.
Do not coach anyone. Do not pressure a witness, offer anything, or gather people to line up a story. Give your lawyer the names and let the lawyer make contact.
Records your employer holds, and how to get them
| Record | Your right | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel file | Current and former employees may inspect it and receive a copy. Ask in writing | 30 calendar days. $750 penalty if the employer does not comply |
| Payroll records | Inspect or receive a copy | 21 calendar days. $750 penalty |
| Anything you signed | A copy on request, including an arbitration agreement or a handbook acknowledgment | On request |
| The investigation file, other complaints, emails, chat logs, video | Not available on request. A lawyer obtains them through the court process | During the case |
Ask early. The right to inspect your personnel file is suspended while a lawsuit about a personnel matter is pending. After that the records come through the court process, which is slower.
What not to do
| Mistake | Why it hurts |
|---|---|
| Deleting messages, even embarrassing ones | Once you expect a claim you must keep relevant evidence. A jury can be told that a party who destroyed evidence did so because it was unfavorable |
| Cropping or editing screenshots | One altered image puts every other image in doubt |
| Secretly recording | Unusable, and it exposes you to a lawsuit |
| Taking confidential business files | Gives the employer a defense and a possible claim against you |
| Opening someone else's email or account | Can be a crime under California's computer access law |
| Using a work device for notes or lawyer emails | The employer can read them, and privilege may be lost |
| Posting about it online | Posts can be requested in the case and quoted against you |
| Deleting your social media | That is destroying evidence. Making an account private is fine |
| Waiting | Video is recorded over, phones are replaced, people leave, and filing deadlines run |
What the employer can ask you for
In a lawsuit both sides exchange evidence. Expect requests for your messages with the harasser, messages about the harassment, relevant social media posts and, if you claim emotional distress, records that bear on it. There are firm limits.
- Your sexual history is protected. Evidence of your sexual conduct with other people cannot be used to prove consent or to argue you were not harmed. The defense needs a court order, based on specific facts and good cause, before it can even ask about it.
- Your passwords are yours. An employer may not demand your personal social media username or password or make you log in while it watches. During an investigation it may ask you to share specific content it reasonably believes is relevant.
- Your medical history is not opened wholesale. The other side is limited to records that bear on the conditions you put at issue.
- A protective order can keep private material confidential within the case.
How distress is proved and protected: the mental health impact of workplace harassment.
Questions people ask
Yes. Under California Evidence Code section 411, the testimony of one witness who is believed is enough to prove a fact. Messages, notes made at the time and people you told add support.
Often, yes. Texts carry the sender's own words with a date and time. Together with your testimony they can prove what happened, that it was repeated and that it was unwelcome.
Not in a private conversation. Penal Code section 632 requires the consent of everyone in a confidential communication. An illegal recording cannot be used as evidence, and the person recorded can sue for $5,000 per violation.
Do not delete it, share it or post it. Tell a lawyer right away. Whether it falls within a legal exception depends on what was said and why you recorded it.
Yes. A person who leaves a voicemail knows it is being recorded. Save the audio file somewhere safe, because phone carriers delete old messages.
No. Once you expect a claim you must keep relevant evidence. Friendly or joking replies can be explained. Deleted messages cannot, and a jury may be told to assume they were unfavorable.
Yes. You confirm under oath that you received the message, who sent it and how you know. California presumes a printout of digital information is accurate. The original phone answers any challenge.
Ask a lawyer first. Some company policies forbid it. The safer steps are to note the date, sender and subject of each message and to photograph messages sent to you about the harassment.
Write down what each message said and when. Photograph future messages with a second device. The sender's phone and the service provider may still hold data, and a lawyer can demand that it be preserved.
Send a written request. Under Labor Code section 1198.5 the employer has 30 calendar days to let you inspect it and give you a copy. The penalty for failing to comply is $750.
At least four years for personnel records. Once the employer has notice of a complaint filed with the Civil Rights Department, it must keep all related records until the case and any appeal are finished.
No. Labor Code section 980 bars an employer from requiring or requesting your personal social media username or password. In an investigation it may ask you to share specific relevant content.
Rarely. California bars evidence of your sexual conduct with other people to prove consent or lack of harm. The defense needs a court order before it can ask about it at all.
You have your testimony. Start a dated record today, list the people you told, and request your personnel file. A lawyer can obtain the employer's emails, chat logs and earlier complaints.
Not sure what you have is enough?
Send us what you have, even if it is three screenshots and a list of dates. We will tell you what it proves, what is missing and how to get it. It is free and confidential.
(800) 371-3088 or send what you have.
Related reading: how to document harassment, when HR does nothing, how long a case takes, what to expect at a deposition, the rights of witnesses, whether you need a lawyer, the full California sexual harassment guide, nonverbal, visual and online harassment, and what to do after a sexual assault at work.
Sources
- California Evidence Code section 411: the direct evidence of one witness is sufficient proof of any fact.
- California Penal Code section 632: recording a confidential communication without the consent of all parties.
- California Penal Code section 633.5 (the exception) and section 637.2 (civil action, $5,000 per violation).
- Flanagan v. Flanagan (2002) 27 Cal.4th 766, the test for a confidential communication; Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. (2006) 39 Cal.4th 95, calls between California and other states.
- California Labor Code section 1198.5: personnel records within 30 days. See the Labor Commissioner's guide to inspecting personnel files.
- California Labor Code section 226 (payroll records within 21 days) and section 432 (a copy of anything you signed).
- California Government Code section 12946: records kept four years, and until a filed complaint is fully resolved.
- California Evidence Code section 1106 and Code of Civil Procedure section 2017.220: limits on evidence of a plaintiff's sexual conduct. Vinson v. Superior Court (1987) 43 Cal.3d 833.
- California Evidence Code section 1552: a printed representation of computer information is presumed accurate.
- California Labor Code section 980: personal social media.
- Holmes v. Petrovich Development Co. (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 1047: emails to a lawyer from a work computer.
- Johnson v. United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children's Foundation (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 740; Pantoja v. Anton (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 87: evidence of harassment of other employees.
- Judicial Council of California, Civil Jury Instructions, Nos. 200 (more likely true than not true) and 204 (willful suppression of evidence).
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.