Sexual Harassment Statute of Limitations in California

In California you have three years from the last act of sexual harassment to file a complaint with the Civil Rights Department, and one year from your right to sue notice to file in court. Those are the main deadlines. Several shorter ones can run at the same time, and missing any of them can end that part of your claim.

This page puts every deadline in one place, explains when each clock starts, and sets out the exceptions and the traps.

The short answer

• Three years to file with California's Civil Rights Department, counted from the last unlawful act.
• One year to file a lawsuit, counted from the date on the department's right to sue notice.
• 300 days to file a federal charge, and 90 days to sue once the federal agency issues its notice.
• Ten years for a civil claim over a sexual assault, or three years from discovering the injury it caused, whichever is later.
• Six months for some claims against a city, county, school district or the state.
• 45 days if you work for the federal government.

The right deadline for you depends on who the employer is, what happened, and when the last incident took place. Work it out from the earliest date that could apply.

Every deadline in one table

When the clock starts

Ongoing harassment: the last act. Harassment is usually a course of conduct, not one event. Under California's continuing violation rule, earlier acts can be included in a claim if they are similar in kind to the later ones, happened with reasonable frequency, and had not become permanent. If that test is met, the three years run from the most recent act, and the whole pattern comes in.

A long gap can break the chain. If the conduct stopped for a long period, or it became clear that complaining was futile and nothing would change, a court may treat the earlier acts as a separate matter with its own earlier deadline. Do not assume an old incident is safe because something happened recently.

A firing: the last day of work. The California Supreme Court has held that the time runs from the actual termination, not from the day you were told it was coming.

A forced resignation: the day you resign.

A denied promotion: when you knew, or should have known. In a 2021 sexual harassment case, the Supreme Court held that the clock on a refused promotion starts when the employee knows or reasonably should know of the decision.

Retaliation: each act has its own date. A demotion in March and a firing in September are two events with two clocks.

A single assault: that day. One serious incident can be enough for a claim, and its date is the starting point.

Agency first, then court

You cannot sue an employer under California's harassment statute until you have filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Department and received a right to sue notice. The filing counts from the day you submit the department's intake form.

There are two ways to do it:

• Ask the department to investigate. It investigates and may offer free mediation. If it does not bring its own case, it must issue your right to sue notice no later than one year after the complaint was filed.
• Ask for an immediate right to sue notice. The department issues it at once and closes its file. This route is meant for people who have a lawyer, because the one year court deadline begins on the date of that notice.

If your complaint is also filed with the federal agency and that agency is investigating, the one year period is extended. It then ends when the federal right to sue period expires or one year after the state notice, whichever is later.

The notice itself is explained in what a right to sue letter is.

If it happened more than three years ago

An older date does not always end the matter. Five things can keep a claim alive:

1. The conduct continued. If any part of the same pattern falls inside the last three years, earlier acts may come in with it.
2. You learned the facts late. The statute allows up to 90 extra days where a person first obtained knowledge of the facts after the deadline had passed.
3. You were under 18. A person harassed as a minor has up to one year after reaching adulthood.
4. There was a sexual assault. A much longer period applies, and temporary windows for older claims are open now. See the next section.
5. You used an internal grievance process. California courts can pause the deadline while an employee pursues an employer's internal remedy in good faith. This is decided case by case. Never rely on it in advance.

If the harassment included a sexual assault

A civil claim for sexual assault of an adult has its own deadline under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16. It must be started within the later of:

• 10 years from the last act, attempted act, or assault with intent to commit the act, or
• 3 years from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that an injury or illness resulted from it.

The statute covers rape, sexual battery, forced oral copulation, sodomy and sexual penetration, along with attempts. No police report, prosecution or conviction is needed to bring the civil claim. It is filed in court directly, with no agency step.

Two temporary windows are open for claims that had already expired:

These windows close on fixed dates and do not reopen. More on these cases: sexual assault at work in California and what to do after a workplace sexual assault.

Public employers and federal workers

City, county, school district and state employees. California's harassment statute applies to public employers, with the same three years. No separate government claim is needed for that claim. Other claims against a public entity, such as assault, battery or emotional distress, do need a written claim presented to the entity within six months. Missing it can bar those claims even while the harassment claim survives.

Federal employees. A different system applies. You must generally contact an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor at your agency within 45 days of the act, and file a formal complaint within 15 days of the counselor's notice. California's state statute does not apply to federal agencies as employers.

Seven traps that cost people their claims

1. Waiting for HR to finish. An internal investigation does not reliably stop any clock. Investigations can run for months and end with nothing.
2. Counting from the wrong event. The harassment, the retaliation and the firing each have their own date.
3. Taking an immediate right to sue notice, then waiting. The one year runs from the notice, and the department does not remind you.
4. Treating the federal notice like the state one. The federal notice gives 90 days, not a year.
5. Missing the six month claim against a public employer.
6. Signing a severance release. A signature can end a claim years before any deadline would have.
7. Trusting an old article. Before January 1, 2020 the California period was one year. Many pages still say so. Others apply three years to everything, which is also wrong.

There is also a practical deadline no statute sets. Messages get deleted, security video is overwritten, and witnesses change jobs. A claim filed in the third year is harder to prove than the same claim filed in the first.

Questions people ask

Find out your dates today

Bring two dates to the call: the last incident, and your last day of work if you have left. You will be told every deadline that applies and how long is left on each. It is free and confidential.

(800) 371-3088 or send what you have.

Related reading: the full California sexual harassment guide, when to talk to a lawyer, how settlements work, how long a case takes, whether you need a lawyer, forced arbitration, retaliation after a complaint, California sexual harassment laws, being falsely accused of harassment, and what to expect at a deposition.

Sources

1. California Government Code section 12960: three years to file, the 90 day extension, and the rule for minors.
2. California Government Code section 12965: the right to sue notice, the one year to sue, and the extension during a federal investigation.
3. California Civil Rights Department, Complaint Process and Obtain a Right to Sue.
4. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Time Limits for Filing a Charge and Filing a Lawsuit: 300 days and 90 days.
5. California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16: sexual assault of an adult, and the revival windows.
6. California Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1: two years for assault, battery and other personal injury.
7. California Government Code section 911.2: six months to present a claim to a public entity.
8. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Overview of the Federal Sector Complaint Process: 45 days and 15 days.
9. California Labor Commissioner, How to File a Retaliation Complaint.
10. California Supreme Court: Richards v. CH2M Hill, Inc. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 798, continuing violations; Romano v. Rockwell International, Inc. (1996) 14 Cal.4th 479, termination date; Pollock v. Tri-Modal Distribution Services, Inc. (2021) 11 Cal.5th 918, denied promotion; McDonald v. Antelope Valley Community College District (2008) 45 Cal.4th 88, internal remedies.