Were you sexually harassed at work in El Paso?
Unwanted sexual comments, messages, touching, advances, or pressure involving your job may be unlawful. Retaliation after you objected or reported it may be unlawful too.
If your workplace rights were violated, you may be able to pursue compensation for lost pay or emotional harm, and hold your employer accountable.
Not sure whether it was "serious enough"? You can request a review even if you never reported it to HR or are still employed.
What this looks like in real life, and what the law calls it.
Sexual harassment is usually smaller, repeated, and easier to doubt than people expect. The legal test is whether unwelcome conduct tied to sex made your job hostile, it does not have to be physical or loud.
He says the comments are jokes. They're about my body, and they happen every shift.
The law calls it → sexual harassment (hostile work environment)
- My manager hinted my hours depend on how 'friendly' I am after work. The law calls it → quid pro quo sexual harassment
- The comments stopped being about work a long time ago. Now it's my body, my clothes, my dating life. The law calls it → hostile work environment based on sex
- After I turned him down, my good shifts disappeared and my reviews got worse. The law calls it → retaliation, illegal even if the original complaint isn't proven
- They didn't fire me. They just made every day bad enough that I'd quit. The law calls it → constructive discharge
- The night shift at the distribution center never lets up with the comments, and the nearest HR office is a phone tree in another state. The law calls it → hostile work environment (sexual harassment)
These cover unwelcome sexual advances or comments, quid pro quo (job tied to sexual conduct), hostile work environment based on sex, pregnancy and gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, retaliation for reporting, in any industry. If something here is familiar, you don't have to be sure before you ask.
Illustrative situations, not client accounts.
In El Paso, a harassment charge goes to the TWC Civil Rights Division, or to the EEOC's El Paso Area Office on North Stanton Street. Most complaints carry a 180-day deadline; sexual harassment stretches to 300, and Texas reaches even one-employee businesses. Civilian Fort Bliss staff have a separate 45-day track.
What could taking action help you pursue?
Depending on the facts, legal action may help recover financial losses, address emotional harm, restore employment opportunities, or require workplace changes. Available remedies depend on the facts and applicable law; no outcome is guaranteed.
Recover what you lost
Lost pay, benefits, hours, and employment opportunities tied to the unlawful conduct.
Address the harm
Compensation for emotional distress may be available where the law provides for it.
Restore an opportunity
Some cases may involve reinstatement, promotion, corrected records, or another job-related remedy.
Create accountability
A resolution may include policy changes, training, or other corrective workplace action.
You do not need a perfect record, or even to know whether what happened was illegal, before asking what your options are.
Common concerns we hear from employees
I never reported it to HR.
You may still have legal options. Not reporting immediately does not automatically end your rights, although the specific facts can affect a claim.
I don't have screenshots or witnesses.
You do not need a complete evidence file before contacting us. We can help identify texts, emails, schedules, witnesses, and other evidence that may matter.
I still work there.
You can ask questions while still employed. Retaliating against a worker for opposing unlawful conduct or asserting protected rights may itself be unlawful.
It was a customer or client, not a coworker.
In some circumstances, an employer may be responsible for the conduct of supervisors, coworkers, customers, clients, or other third parties.
Craig J. Ackermann
Shareholder · Admitted in Texas
Craig Ackermann represents Texas employees in harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage matters. He is licensed in California, Washington, and Texas.
Read Craig's full bio →Real verdicts and recoveries in harassment and discrimination cases.
$23.5 million
150 women · Sexual harassment (multi-plaintiff)
$1 million
a group of women · Sexual harassment (multi-plaintiff)
$15 million
1 plaintiff · Gender pay & promotion discrimination, jury verdict (punitive damages under federal + Oregon law)
Jury verdict, subject to post-trial proceedings. Not a settlement or a collected recovery.
$1.3 million
19 Black construction workers · Racial harassment (hostile work environment)
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What happens after you reach out?
You don't need documents, a lawyer-ready story, or even certainty that what happened was illegal.
- 01
Talk with us
A short initial conversation about what happened and when.
- 02
We assess the record
We identify possible claims, deadlines and evidence that may matter.
- 03
If we take the case
We handle the filing strategy, negotiations and litigation.
Deadlines can depend on where and how you file
Texas and federal claims may follow different filing routes. These are general time limits, not sequential steps.
Generally, to file a sexual-harassment complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division.
Texas Labor Code ch. 21 ↗Often, to file an EEOC charge when the claim is also covered by state or local anti-discrimination law.
EEOC, How to File a Charge ↗Generally, to file a lawsuit after receiving a TWC right-to-sue notice.
Texas Labor Code ch. 21 ↗Other claims and exceptions may have different or shorter deadlines. Contact counsel promptly so the applicable dates can be reviewed.
Texas Labor Code Chapter 21, "Employment Discrimination" (commonly known as the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act / TCHRA)
Tex. Lab. Code Ann. ch. 21
Primary source, Tex. Lab. Code Ann. ch. 21 ↗Share what happened in about two minutes. The firm will review your submission and contact you about possible options and next steps. There is no cost or obligation to request a review.
Deadlines and filing issues for workers in El Paso.
- On a routine harassment charge the TWC clock stops at 180 days, and the statute tells the agency to throw out anything late, however strong your proof.
- Only sexual-harassment charges earn the 300-day TWC extension; a race, age, or disability complaint handed in on day 210 is already dead.
- Fort Bliss civilian federal employees get just 45 DAYS to reach an EEO counselor, the tightest and most-missed clock on this page.
- Texas forces you through the agency before any courtroom, sue too early and the case is tossed for skipping exhaustion.
- From the day the right-to-sue letter lands you have 60 days to file, with a hard two-year outer wall running underneath the whole time.
Local filing and enforcement information for El Paso workers.
The sources below are public agency actions and filing information, not this firm's cases. They illustrate how claims have been handled and do not predict the outcome of another matter.
- Healthcare / senior living, El Paso EEOC v. Paramount Healthcare Consultants & MPD Operators Nazareth Hall (W.D. Tex., El Paso Division): $50,000 three-year consent decree (2024) resolving allegations that an administrator at El Paso's Nazareth Living Care Center subjected a housekeeping aide to unwanted sexual comments and forcible kissing, that management brushed off her complaint without a real investigation, and that both she and the supervisor who reported it were retaliated against until they quit. official source ↗
These are public government enforcement actions by the EEOC, not this firm's cases. Agency and state filing routes for El Paso follow below.
Where do you file a sexual harassment claim in El Paso?
EEOC El Paso Area Office
Stanton Towers, 100 N. Stanton Street, Suite 600El Paso, TX 79901
1-800-669-4000 EEOC Public Portal →
El Paso County Civil District Courts
El Paso County Courthouse500 E San Antonio Avenue
El Paso, TX 79901
The filing path, step by step
- 1Start a written record now, dates, names, witnesses, texts, and shift logs. Texas enforces these deadlines to the day.
- 2Sexual harassment: submit a charge to the TWC Civil Rights Division on the EDISS portal inside 300 days, or to the EEOC El Paso Area Office (100 N. Stanton St, Suite 600) inside the same 300 days. A single charge cross-files with the other agency.
- 3Every other kind of harassment or discrimination: the TWC window shrinks to 180 days.
- 4Civilian Department of Defense employees at Fort Bliss follow an entirely separate process, you have only 45 days to reach an agency EEO counselor.
- 5Once a right-to-sue notice arrives: you get 60 days to open a state-law (TCHRA) case in the El Paso County Civil District Courts (500 E San Antonio Ave); a Title VII suit in federal court is due 90 days after the EEOC notice, filed in the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division.
Sexual-harassment information in other Texas cities
- AustinWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- DallasWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- Fort WorthWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- HoustonWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- San AntonioWorkplace sexual-harassment information
Asked by El Paso workers.
I work at a small El Paso shop with 6 employees, can I still file for sexual harassment?
Yes. Since September 2021, Texas has covered sexual harassment at any employer with at least one worker, and the filing window is 300 days at the TWC. Below 15 employees federal Title VII drops out, so the state statute is frequently the only door, and it swings open even for the smallest storefront.
I move freight at a border warehouse that shuttles loads across the Zaragoza bridge, does Texas law cover me?
Generally yes, as long as your employer or staffing agency is based in Texas: Chapter 21 (15+ employees) and Title VII both apply, with the usual 180/300-day windows. Loading trucks bound for Juárez doesn't move you outside Texas law, it just makes your logs, dispatch records, and timeline more valuable as evidence.
How do I bring an EEOC charge here in El Paso?
At the El Paso Area Office in Stanton Towers, 100 N. Stanton Street, Suite 600, or through the EEOC Public Portal online, the route most people take. This office also covers a broad stretch of far West Texas beyond El Paso County.
I'm a civilian contractor at Fort Bliss and my lead won't stop the comments, am I protected?
If your paycheck comes from a private contractor, then yes, Chapter 21 and Title VII both reach you on the standard 180/300-day schedule. If instead you're a civilian Department of Defense employee, your path is different: an agency EEO counselor must hear from you inside 45 days. Uniformed soldiers use the Army's Equal Opportunity system.
If I report my supervisor at an El Paso call center, can they fire me for it?
No, Texas Labor Code §21.055 treats punishing a good-faith report as its own violation, and you never have to prove the underlying harassment to win it. On a call-center floor that payback tends to surface as a yanked schedule, a sudden metrics write-up, or a demotion right after you speak up.
Which court would hear my El Paso harassment lawsuit?
State-law claims land in the El Paso County Civil District Courts at the courthouse on 500 E San Antonio Avenue. A Title VII case, by contrast, belongs in federal court, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division. Which forum, and which claims to file, is a strategy call you make with your lawyer.