What to Do After Workplace Harassment

Reviewed by Dex Harmon (DH), Editor-in-Chief — Employment & Civil Rights Harassment Practice. Updated May 2026.

When you are experiencing or have experienced workplace harassment, the actions you take in the early stages have a disproportionate impact on your legal options and the strength of any eventual claim. Contemporaneous documentation, strategic use of the internal complaint process, and timely EEOC filing are the three most important things employees can do to protect themselves. This guide explains each step and why it matters.

Step 1: Document Every Incident Contemporaneously

The most powerful evidence in a harassment case is contemporaneous documentation — records created at or near the time of the incident, not reconstructed months later from memory. For each incident of harassment, document: the exact date and time; the precise location; exactly what was said or done, word for word if possible; who was present (witnesses); how you responded or what you said; and any physical evidence (texts, emails, notes left on your desk). Do this as soon as possible after each incident — ideally the same day.

Keep your documentation in personal storage — a personal email account, a personal cloud drive, a journal at home — not in company systems, which may be inaccessible after termination or suspension. Courts and EEOC investigators are significantly more likely to credit contemporaneous records than reconstructed timelines, and the specificity of a contemporaneous record (exact date, exact words, exact witnesses) is substantially more persuasive than general descriptions of what usually happened or approximately when.

Preserve all electronic evidence: save harassing texts to personal storage, forward harassing emails to a personal account, screenshot direct messages. Keep any physical evidence — notes, objects, photographs of workplace materials that contributed to a hostile environment. Once you leave the company, access to company systems is typically cut off. Preserve anything you can access before that happens.

Step 2: Use the Internal Complaint Process Strategically

Using your employer’s internal complaint or anti-harassment process is almost always strategically advisable, even though it is not legally required before filing an EEOC charge. Here is why it matters:

The Faragher/Ellerth defense: If a supervisor harassed you and no tangible employment action followed (you were not fired, demoted, or transferred), the employer can assert the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense — which requires proving both that the employer had a reasonable anti-harassment policy and that you unreasonably failed to use it. If you never reported internally without a good reason for not doing so, the employer may succeed in this defense and avoid liability entirely. Reporting internally defeats that half of the defense and shifts the focus to whether the employer responded adequately.

Notice for coworker claims: For coworker harassment, the employer is only liable if it knew or should have known and failed to act. Without a formal complaint, the employer may argue it had no notice. A written complaint puts the employer on notice and creates liability exposure if they fail to investigate and correct.

The investigation record: A formal complaint triggers a legal obligation to investigate. How the employer responds to that complaint — whether it investigates promptly and thoroughly, whether the harassment stops, whether you face retaliation — becomes evidence of the employer’s culpability. An employer that receives a written harassment complaint and does nothing is in a substantially worse legal position than one that never received notice.

Make the internal complaint in writing — email is ideal because it creates a record with timestamps. Address it to HR (not just the direct supervisor, particularly if the supervisor is the harasser). Be specific: identify the harasser by name and position, describe the incidents with dates and specifics, and request that the company investigate. Keep a copy of what you sent and any responses you receive.

Step 3: File an EEOC Charge to Preserve Your Deadline

For Title VII, ADA, and ADEA claims, you must file an EEOC charge before you can bring a federal lawsuit. The deadline — 180 days in states without their own fair employment agencies, 300 days in deferral states (which includes most populous states) — runs from each discriminatory act. For a continuing hostile work environment, the continuing violation doctrine (National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 (2002)) allows the charge to reach back to earlier incidents as long as at least one act within the hostile environment occurred within the filing window.

Filing an EEOC charge is not filing a lawsuit. It is an administrative filing that initiates the EEOC process — investigation, optional mediation, and eventually a right-to-sue letter that authorizes federal court litigation. You can file online at eeoc.gov, by phone at 1-800-669-4000, or in person at any EEOC field office. The charge does not need to be exhaustively detailed — the key is filing within the deadline to preserve your rights. You can supplement the charge with additional details after the initial filing.

Employment attorneys can help you draft the EEOC charge effectively. The charge establishes the factual and legal framework for any subsequent lawsuit — charges that are too narrowly drafted can limit the scope of federal court claims. Getting attorney help with the charge is valuable, particularly for complex situations involving multiple incidents, multiple protected characteristics, or a concurrent retaliation claim.

Step 4: Consult an Employment Attorney

Most employment attorneys who handle harassment claims offer free initial consultations and take these cases on contingency — no fee unless you win — because attorney fees are recoverable from the employer under Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA if you prevail. The contingency structure means that the attorney’s decision to take your case is itself an informed assessment of the claim’s viability.

At the initial consultation, your attorney will evaluate the strength of the harassment evidence, whether it meets the severe-or-pervasive standard, whether the employer is likely to assert the Faragher/Ellerth defense and how strong that defense is given your reporting history, the likely damages range based on the employer’s size and the nature of the harm, and whether EEOC mediation is likely to be productive. They will advise on the EEOC charge, help you preserve evidence, and evaluate any concurrent claims (retaliation, constructive discharge, failure to accommodate).

The most important reason to consult an attorney quickly is the EEOC deadline: 180 or 300 days seems long, but it passes faster than most people expect while they are dealing with the immediate professional and personal disruption of a harassment situation. An attorney can ensure you do not inadvertently let the deadline expire.

See the how claims work guide, the misconceptions guide, or return to the calculator.