Most anti-discrimination laws do not explicitly prohibit “harassment” per se. Instead, the laws simply prohibit workplace discriminatory treatment in the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.” But courts have regularly interpreted these definitions to bar not only traditional discriminatory treatment, but also two forms of illegal sexual harassment.
As mentioned above, if your company has 15 or more employees you’re covered under federal law if you’re subjected to an illegal hostile work environment, but if your company is smaller, you may still be covered under your state or city’s anti-discrimination laws but each state is different with regard to protections against sexual harassment. Alabama law allows you to sue for sexual harassment based on a theory of invasion of privacy, for example, and Vermont law requires every employer to adopt a policy against sexual harassment, yet other states have no specific law prohibiting or punishing sexual harassment. New York City has one of the most liberal and comprehensive “Human Rights” laws in the country; so if you have to be sexually harassed, let it be in NYC, or San Francisco, or New Jersey. Check your state law here.