Opinion ID: 2520995
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State Law: The FEHA and Sexual Harassment

Text: Like Title VII, California's FEHA prohibits employment discrimination based on sex (§ 12940, subd. (a)). Unlike Title VII, the FEHA expressly and separately prohibits workplace harassment based on sex. (§ 12940, subd. (j)(1).) As here relevant, this provision reads: It shall be an unlawful employment practice ... [¶][F]or an employer ..., because of ... sex ... to harass an employee.... Harassment of an employee ... by an employee other than an agent or supervisor shall be unlawful if the entity, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of this conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. An entity shall take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring. Loss of tangible job benefits shall not be necessary in order to establish harassment. ( Ibid, italics added.) For purposes of the prohibition against workplace harassment, the FEHA defines employer to include any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly. (§ 12940, subd. (j)(4)(A).) The FEHA makes it a separate unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring. (§ 12940, subd. (k).) In another section, the FEHA requires employers to distribute educational material to their employees regarding sexual harassment law and company procedures. (§ 12950; see Farmers Ins. Group v. County of Santa Clara (1995) 11 Cal.4th 992, 1015, fn. 11, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 478, 906 P.2d 440.) The FEHA is to be construed liberally to accomplish its purposes. (§ 12993.)