As of September 1, 2021, all Texas workers will be protected from sexual harassment under the Texas Labor Code, and workers will also have a longer period of time to protect their rights by filing a Charge of sexual harassment with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division.

Previously, Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code only provided sexual harassment protections to employees who worked at business with 15 or more employees. This left out the many Texans who are employed by individuals and smaller businesses, including many vulnerable employees such as nannies, housekeepers, caregivers and home health aides, and others who work in private homes or for small, family-run business, often in tight-quarters.

This gap in the law was particularly dangerous because smaller and individual employers do not typically have Human Resources departments where employees can go to report verbal or physical sexual harassment or demands for sexual favors in exchange for work or pay. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Civil Rights Division is the government agency in Texas where workers are supposed to be able to go for help reporting and stopping sexual harassment. But, by law, the Civil Rights Division could not help employees who worked for one individual or couple, or a business with 1 to 14 employees.

Now, the new law, SB 45, will empower the TWC Civil Rights Division to accept and investigate Charges of sexual harassment by all Texas workers even if that worker is the only employee in a business. Victims of sexual harassment in all workplaces, including domestic workers employed in private homes, will also have up to 300 days to file a Charge of sexual harassment with the TWC Civil Rights Division under a companion bill HB 21.

This longer 300 day period to file Charges of sexual harassment with the TWC Civil Rights Division is also a welcome change in the law that will go into effect on September 1, 2021. Texas has never provided employees as long as Federal law to file Charges – instead Texas shortened the period of time victims of on-the-job harassment, discrimination, and retaliation from 300 days to 180 days, which is only 6 months from the date of the harassing, discriminatory, or retaliatory conduct.

In cases of sexual harassment, individuals who suffer offensive sexual behavior at the hand of their bosses, supervisors, or managers are often afraid to report sexual harassment right away due to fear of retaliation. There can also be hesitancy to report due to embarrassment, humiliation, overwhelming trauma, or concern about how a spouse or loved ones will react to the usually disgusting and crude details of the harasser’s comments, texts, or unwanted touching. Yet, if an individual doesn’t file a Charge of Discrimination to report the harassment within the time period set by law, that person will lose their right to sue under the Texas Labor Code and will only have recourse through private litigation if their case fits the much more narrow and strict definitions for civil sexual assault.

A group of women serving in the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives, including Senator Judith Zaffrini, Representative Victoria Neave, and Representative Erin Zwiener, identified these gaps in the law and took bold action during the 2021 Texas Legislative Session to expand the rights of Texas workers who have suffered in sexually hostile work environments or who have faced the horrible decision posed by quid pro quo harassment - to either submit to sexual requests and propositions or lose their job and their pay. Employees will have more time, up to 300 days, to find a way to leave abusive work environments before filing a Charge with the Civil Rights Division and preserving their right to file a lawsuit and go to court.

As soon as this long, hot Texas summer ends, workers of all gender identities and sexual orientations will be protected from sexual harassment in all workplaces, and will have a longer period of time to come forward and hold their harassers accountable.