California Workplace Bullying and Cyberbullying Laws

Workplace bullying generally refers to repeated, unreasonable behavior directed at an employee that creates a risk to health or safety. Examples include verbal abuse, intimidation, humiliation, sabotage of someone’s work, or abuse of power.

Workplace cyberbullying is the same kind of conduct carried out through email, texts, social media, messaging apps, or other electronic means, whether it happens on company systems or off-duty devices when it spills into the workplace.

It’s important to separate three concepts that often get blurred:

• Bullying is a broad, non-legal term for abusive or mistreating conduct.
• Harassment, in the legal sense, is unwelcome conduct tied to a protected characteristic (race, sex, age, disability, etc.) that’s severe or pervasive enough to alter working conditions.
• Unlawful discrimination involves adverse employment decisions (such as firing, demotion, or denial of promotion) based on a protected characteristic.

Bullying becomes legally actionable in California primarily when it overlaps with harassment or discrimination. The purpose of the various laws in this space is to protect employees from the most damaging forms of abusive conduct while leaving general workplace rudeness or personality conflict outside the reach of the law.

What Federal Laws Apply to Workplace Bullying and Cyberbullying?

No federal law prohibits “bullying” by name. Instead, several statutes address harassment and safety issues that often accompany it:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits harassment and discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin for employers with 15 or more employees.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects employees with disabilities from harassment and requires reasonable accommodations; disability-based bullying can qualify as unlawful harassment.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers 40 and older from age-based harassment and discrimination.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), through its General Duty Clause, requires employers to maintain a workplace free from recognized hazards, which can include a pattern of abusive conduct that creates psychological or physical safety risks, though OSHA rarely enforces bullying claims directly.
• The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees’ rights to engage in “concerted activity” (discussing wages, conditions, organizing); retaliatory bullying against employees for this kind of activity can violate the NLRA regardless of union status.
• Federal cyberstalking and threat statutes (like 18 U.S.C. § 2261A) criminalize using electronic communications to stalk or threaten someone across state lines, which can apply to severe workplace cyberbullying.

How Do California Workplace Bullying Laws Differ from Federal Laws?

California generally provides broader protections than federal law:

• The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) covers employers with 5 or more employees, compared to Title VII’s 15-employee threshold. This means that more California workplaces, including small businesses, are subject to state regulations.
• FEHA has no cap on compensatory or punitive damages, while Title VII caps damages at $300,000 for larger employers.
• California recognizes more protected categories than federal law, including gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, and medical condition, among others.
• California requires anti-bullying (“abusive conduct”) training as part of its mandatory harassment prevention training, which is not a requirement under federal law.
• California’s statute of limitations for FEHA claims is 3 years, compared to shorter federal filing windows (typically 180–300 days for an EEOC charge).
• Bullying by itself is still not independently actionable under California law unless it’s tied to harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or a criminal statute.

Does California Have Laws Specifically Addressing Workplace Bullying?

California was the first state in the country to pass legislation acknowledging workplace bullying, but it stopped short of creating a standalone right to sue for bullying alone.

• AB 2053 (2014) amended FEHA to require that employer harassment-prevention training also cover the prevention of “abusive conduct.”
• California Government Code § 12950.1(g)(2) defines “abusive conduct” as conduct by an employer or employee, undertaken with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to the employer’s legitimate business interests. This conduct may include repeated verbal abuse, threatening or humiliating conduct, or gratuitous sabotage of someone’s work performance.
  • Critically, this definition appears only in the training provisions of FEHA. It does not create a separate civil cause of action. An employee generally cannot sue solely for “abusive conduct” unless it also amounts to unlawful harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.
• California is also the birthplace of the nationwide Healthy Workplace Bill (HWB) campaign and the newer Workplace Bullying Accountability Act (WBAA), both drafted by law professor David Yamada and pushed by advocacy groups, but neither has been enacted into California law. They remain proposed legislation.
  • An employer can require abusive-conduct training and still not face direct liability if the training obligation itself is violated. FEHA enforcement of the training mandate runs through the Civil Rights Department, not through individual employee lawsuits.

How Does California Define Workplace Bullying?

California doesn’t have a standalone statutory definition of “bullying,” but the abusive-conduct definition used for training purposes, combined with case law and guidance, points to conduct such as:

• Verbal abuse, including derogatory remarks, insults, epithets, and repeated yelling
• Intimidation or humiliation, including public dressing-downs
• Threatening or hostile physical or verbal conduct
• Gratuitous sabotage or undermining of someone’s work performance
• A pattern of repeated conduct; isolated rude incidents typically don’t rise to actionable bullying, though a single sufficiently severe incident (like a threat) can matter
• Conduct that exploits a power imbalance, such as a supervisor targeting a direct report, though bullying can also occur peer-to-peer or even upward

How Does California Define Workplace Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying extends the same abusive patterns into digital channels:

• Harassment via work email, instant messages, text messages, or social media
• Online threats, intimidation, or public humiliation (e.g., screenshots shared in group chats, mocking posts)
• Misuse of employer-owned devices, accounts, or systems to harass a coworker
• Off-duty conduct (a personal social media post targeting a coworker can still create workplace exposure if it affects the work environment, especially if it’s visible to other employees or ties back to a protected characteristic)

When Does Workplace Bullying Become Illegal in California?

Bullying crosses into illegal territory when:

• It’s tied to a protected characteristic. Bullying related to race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age (40+), disability, religion, or another FEHA-protected category turns it into unlawful harassment.
• It’s severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. A single incident can qualify if it is severe enough (e.g., a physical threat or an overtly discriminatory slur); otherwise, courts look at a pattern over time.
• It follows a protected complaint. Retaliation against someone for reporting harassment, discrimination, wage violations, or safety issues is independently unlawful under FEHA and the Labor Code.
• It rises to criminal conduct. Credible threats, stalking, or cyberstalking can trigger criminal liability regardless of motive.

Outside these situations, the conduct may be a management or culture problem, but it typically isn’t illegal in California.

Are Employers Required to Address Workplace Bullying Complaints in California?

Yes, though the obligation flows mainly through harassment-prevention duties rather than a bullying-specific statute. FEHA requires employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent and correct harassment and discrimination. Failing to investigate or act on a complaint that touches a protected characteristic can itself create liability.

Employers should maintain a written anti-harassment/anti-bullying policy describing how to report concerns, to whom, and how complaints will be handled. A prompt, thorough investigation is expected once a complaint is made, including documenting the reported incident, interviewing relevant witnesses, and reaching a conclusion.

Recordkeeping of complaints, investigation notes, and outcomes helps demonstrate good-faith compliance if a claim is later challenged. Corrective action should be proportional to the findings and applied consistently. Examples include conversations, coaching, discipline, and termination.

What Are the Potential Consequences of Workplace Bullying in California?

Consequences vary by severity and legal category. Minor incidents may result in disciplinary action by the employer against the person accused of bullying, such as verbal or written warnings, suspension, or termination.

Employers may face civil liability under FEHA if the bullying is tied to a protected characteristic, with the potential for uncapped damages including emotional distress and punitive damages. Criminal penalties may also apply to conduct that constitutes criminal threats, stalking, or cyberstalking, which can result in fines and jail time for the individual involved, separate from any employer liability.

Can Workplace Cyberbullying Lead to Criminal Charges in California?

Yes, several Penal Code sections can apply depending on the conduct:

• Penal Code § 646.9 (stalking/cyberstalking) makes it a crime to willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly harass or follow someone while making a credible threat, including threats communicated electronically. Punishable as a misdemeanor or felony depending on circumstances (e.g., prior convictions, existing restraining orders).
• Penal Code § 653.2 (indirect electronic/cyber harassment) criminalizes posting someone’s personal information or a harassing message online with intent to incite fear or encourage third parties to harass them. A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
• Penal Code § 422 (criminal threats) covers explicit threats of death or great bodily injury communicated by any means, including electronically.
• Penal Code § 653m (annoying electronic communications) covers repeated harassing calls, texts, or messages made with intent to annoy, without the malice element required for stalking.
• Unauthorized electronic monitoring or impersonation involves creating fake accounts to harass a coworker or accessing someone’s accounts/devices without authorization and can implicate additional statutes (e.g., unauthorized computer access laws).

These are criminal matters handled by law enforcement and prosecutors, separate from any internal workplace investigation or civil claim.

Are Employers Required to Provide Workplace Bullying Training in California?

Yes, employers with 5 or more employees must provide sexual harassment prevention training that also includes abusive conduct (bullying) prevention as a component. Supervisors must receive 2 hours of training every 2 years, while non-supervisory employees must receive 1 hour of training every 2 years. New supervisors and employees generally must be trained within six months of hire or promotion.

Do Cities or Municipalities in California Have Additional Workplace Bullying Protections?

California doesn’t have a widespread pattern of city-specific “anti-bullying” ordinances, but several municipalities layer on their own employment-related requirements that intersect with harassment prevention. Cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles have local ordinances covering related areas (e.g., fair chance hiring, paid sick leave, and in some cases, broader anti-discrimination protections).

What Should Employers in California Keep in Mind About Workplace Bullying and Cyberbullying Laws?

Maintain clear, written workplace conduct policies that define expected behavior and explicitly address both in-person and electronic communication. It’s important to build a real complaint and investigation process, not just a policy on paper, so employees know how and where to report concerns.

Train managers and employees regularly, meeting the SB 1343/AB 2053 minimums but ideally going further with practical scenarios. Guard against retaliation by ensuring that employees who report bullying or harassment are protected, as retaliation claims are often easier to prove than the underlying harassment claim.

Employers can monitor company systems, but should have clear, communicated policies and be mindful of privacy law limits regarding personal devices or accounts. Additionally, employers need to know when to escalate to legal counsel, particularly when a complaint touches on a protected characteristic, involves threats, or could implicate criminal conduct such as stalking or cyberharassment.

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