Were you sexually harassed at work in Fort Worth?
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
- On the aircraft assembly floor the remarks never let up, and the nearest HR office is at corporate, not on site. 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.
Fort Worth workers file harassment claims with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division or the EEOC Dallas District Office, which covers Tarrant County. General harassment gets 180 days; sexual harassment gets 300, and Texas now reaches sexual harassment at employers with a single worker. Wait too long and that route closes.
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 Fort Worth.
- For a general harassment complaint the TWC clock is just 180 days, the statute tells the agency to dismiss late filings no matter how strong the facts.
- Only sexual harassment earns the longer 300-day TWC window; a race, age, or disability complaint brought on day 210 is already gone.
- Texas requires you to go through the agency first, a lawsuit filed before the TWC or EEOC process finishes gets thrown out.
- When the right-to-sue letter arrives the clock is 60 days to file, and a hard two-year outer limit keeps running the entire time.
- With fewer than 15 workers at your employer, the one-employee state sexual-harassment route may be the only harassment claim you have, federal Title VII simply doesn't reach them.
Local filing and enforcement information for Fort Worth 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.
- Building services, Dallas–Fort Worth EEOC v. Courtesy Building Services (N.D. Tex., Dallas Division): $27,500 consent decree (2011) over allegations that the janitorial company, which operated Dallas and Fort Worth offices, subjected female staff, including an operations manager, to a sexually hostile workplace, with managers commenting on women's bodies and pressuring employees toward sham marriages, followed by seven years of EEOC monitoring. official source ↗
These are public government enforcement actions by the EEOC, not this firm's cases. Agency and state filing routes for Fort Worth follow below.
Where do you file a sexual harassment claim in Fort Worth?
EEOC Dallas District Office (covers Fort Worth & Tarrant County)
207 S. Houston Street, 3rd FloorDallas, TX 75202
(972) 918-3580 EEOC Public Portal →
Tarrant County Civil District Courts
Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building100 N. Calhoun Street
Fort Worth, TX 76196
The filing path, step by step
- 1Start a written record while the details are fresh, dates, who was present, texts, and schedules. Texas deadlines are short and the agency enforces them to the day.
- 2Sexual harassment: file with the TWC Civil Rights Division through the online EDISS portal within 300 days, or with the EEOC Dallas District Office (207 S. Houston St, 3rd Floor), which handles Tarrant County, within 300 days. Either agency will cross-file your charge with the other.
- 3Any other harassment or discrimination gives you only 180 days at the TWC.
- 4After a right-to-sue notice: 60 days for a state-law (TCHRA) suit in the Tarrant County Civil District Courts at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building (100 N. Calhoun St); a federal Title VII suit runs 90 days from the EEOC notice, in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.
Sexual-harassment information in other Texas cities
- AustinWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- DallasWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- El PasoWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- HoustonWorkplace sexual-harassment information
- San AntonioWorkplace sexual-harassment information
Asked by Fort Worth workers.
I work at a small Fort Worth diner with 9 employees, can I still bring a sexual harassment claim?
Yes. Since September 2021 Texas has covered sexual harassment at any employer with at least one worker, and the TWC deadline is 300 days. Below 15 employees, federal Title VII drops out entirely, so this state route is usually the only one available, and it is a real, enforceable claim.
I'm on a mostly-male production crew at a Fort Worth aircraft plant, does Texas law cover harassment there?
Generally yes. If the plant or its staffing company employs 15 or more, both Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 and Title VII apply, with the usual 180/300-day windows; sexual harassment reaches even one-employee shops. A rough shop-floor culture is not a legal defense, but it makes documenting names, dates, and exactly what was said all the more important.
There's no EEOC office in Fort Worth, so where do I file a charge?
Fort Worth is covered by the EEOC's Dallas District Office at 207 S. Houston Street, 3rd Floor, or, far more commonly, through the EEOC Public Portal online. That district office handles charges across Tarrant County and much of north and west Texas, so you never have to travel to file.
My employer 'investigated' my complaint and left the harasser in place, is that enough?
Often not. Once a Texas employer knows or should have known about sexual harassment, the law demands 'immediate and appropriate corrective action', a standard courts read as stricter than the federal one. An inquiry that changes nothing and leaves you exposed can itself be the violation. Keep the timeline and get advice.
Can I be fired for reporting a supervisor at an AllianceTexas warehouse?
No. Texas Labor Code §21.055 makes it illegal to punish someone for reporting harassment, and you don't have to win the underlying claim, only to have raised it in good faith. In warehouse and distribution work that retaliation often looks like a sudden schedule change, a worse assignment, or a write-up right after you spoke up.
Which court would hear my Fort Worth harassment lawsuit?
State-law claims go to the Tarrant County Civil District Courts at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building, 100 N. Calhoun Street. Federal Title VII claims go to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. Which court, and which claims to file, is a strategy call you make with your lawyer.