According to Texas Law Help, Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code protects workers from unwelcome behavior based on protected categories, including sex, race, color, national origin, religion and disability retaliation for reporting other unlawful workplace acts.
Harassment can include offensive jokes, comments, or slurs. It can also include physical conduct, such as unwanted touching, in a sexual harassment case. A single incident can count as unlawful harassment if it is severe enough. Most harassment cases involve ongoing behavior, such as when employees face slurs, jokes, or taunts daily at work.
To report workplace harassment or discrimination in Texas, begin by reporting it to human resources or whichever employee is responsible for such issues. If your employer does not have a human resources officer, you can report it to a supervisor or manager. If a supervisor or manager is the one doing the harassing, you can either report it to someone else in the organization or you can go directly to the TWC.
You can submit a complaint to the TWC’s Civil Rights Division online or by mail. For most types of harassment, you have 180 days from the date of the unlawful activity to file a complaint. You have 300 days to file a complaint of sexual harassment.
A TWC complaint is required to file a lawsuit for workplace harassment.