If you've been sexually harassed at work in Austin, the timer is already running. Under Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 you have 180 days to file with the Texas Workforce Commission's Civil Rights Division. Under federal Title VII the deadline is 300 days at the EEOC. Miss either one and the case is gone. Texas's 2021 amendment (Section 21.141) lowered the small-employer threshold to a single employee and expanded what counts as harassment — making Texas law in some respects friendlier to employees than federal Title VII. The five Austin employment attorneys below all handle workplace sexual harassment and related retaliation claims, almost always on contingency.
Talk to an Austin employment attorney before doing anything else if any of these is true:
Do this fast: save every text, email, Teams or Slack message in a personal account (not work email). Write a dated timeline of incidents while memory is fresh. Identify witnesses. Save performance reviews and any communications about your work product, because employers often try to manufacture a paper trail of "performance issues" after a harassment complaint. Texas employment lawyers can subpoena the rest, but only if your own records survive long enough to start the case.
Austin's employer mix is unusual: a huge tech sector (Apple, Google, Tesla, Oracle, IBM, Indeed, Bumble), the University of Texas, a vast state government workforce, healthcare systems (Ascension Seton, St. David's, Dell Med), and a growing semiconductor/manufacturing base. Each of these has its own pattern. State government employees face Texas Government Code Chapter 554 (Texas Whistleblower Act) overlay. UT and other public-university employees have additional administrative remedies. Federal contractors face overlapping OFCCP rules. Tech workers often deal with sophisticated arbitration agreements that the 2022 federal law now lets them escape for harassment claims. An Austin employment lawyer who knows the local employer landscape is worth more than a generic statewide firm.
Texas's 2021 TCHRA amendment is the biggest recent change. Before 2021, only employers with 15+ employees were covered. Now, for sexual harassment specifically, the threshold drops to one employee — meaning small Austin restaurants, salons, contractor shops, and startups are now covered. The amendment also extends individual liability to supervisors and managers personally, not just the employer entity. That's significant in cases where the company is small, judgment-proof, or shuts down to avoid liability.
Almost every Austin sexual harassment lawyer handles employee-side cases on contingency. You pay nothing during the case. The firm takes a percentage of the recovery at the end, and they often recover their fees separately from the employer under Title VII's fee-shifting provision — meaning your net share can stay close to the gross.
Damages in a successful Title VII or TCHRA case can include back pay (uncapped), front pay (uncapped), emotional distress damages, punitive damages where the conduct was malicious or reckless, and reasonable attorney's fees. Title VII total compensatory + punitive damages are capped by employer size: $50,000 (15-100 employees), $100,000 (101-200), $200,000 (201-500), $300,000 (501+). TCHRA caps track Title VII. Severance and settlement values depend heavily on the strength of evidence, employer size, and how publicly the matter would play if it went to trial.
Honest Austin attorneys will tell you at the free consult: most strong sexual harassment cases settle, often within the first year. Trials are rare. The number that matters is how much evidence supports the conduct and the retaliation — not whether the firm can talk a good game.
All five firms below are independently verified Austin employment-law practices that take sexual harassment cases on contingency.
Plaintiff-only employment firm. Recovered $45M+ for employees in under six years. Attorneys educated at Harvard, Columbia, and NYU. Strong fit for tech-sector harassment and retaliation cases against larger Austin employers.
John F. Melton runs an established Austin employment practice focused on sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Named to Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2011. Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. Useful when you want a deeply experienced solo-led practice rather than a larger firm.
Austin firm with a sexual harassment focus and labor-and-employment board certification. Good fit when your case has technical TCHRA or Title VII issues (mixed-motive, McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting, after-acquired evidence) that need a specialist rather than a generalist.
Twenty-plus year Austin employment lawyer with Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in labor and employment law. Takes cases statewide. Reliable choice when the case may need to be litigated in the Western District of Texas or pursued through trial rather than settled at agency mediation.
Twenty-eight year career representing Texas employees in harassment, retaliation, and discrimination claims, largely on contingency. Good fit when budget is tight and you want a solo practitioner with deep federal-court experience.
Your information is kept confidential and is not shared with your employer. We route a private request to the best-fit Austin firm in this directory.