When you need a Fort Lauderdale sexual harassment lawyer
Sexual harassment law in Florida sounds simple but the cases are run on hard procedural rails. Two categories qualify: quid pro quo (something tied to sexual conduct — keep your job, get the promotion, get the schedule you asked for) and hostile work environment (severe or pervasive unwelcome conduct). The conduct does not have to come from a supervisor. Coworker harassment and even client or customer harassment can support a claim when the employer knew or should have known and failed to fix it. Call a Fort Lauderdale employment lawyer if any of the following is happening or has happened recently:
- A supervisor, manager, or owner asked for sexual conduct in exchange for any job benefit.
- You were fired, demoted, transferred, denied promotion, or had your hours cut after refusing sexual advances.
- A coworker, customer, vendor, or client engages in unwelcome touching, comments, jokes, or messages and the employer has not stopped it after you reported.
- You received explicit messages, images, or videos from a coworker — text, Slack, Teams, email, social DM.
- You were sexually assaulted or threatened at work.
- Your employer retaliated after you reported — schedule changes, isolation, hostile treatment, denial of promotion, termination.
- You were forced to resign because the harassment did not stop (constructive discharge).
- You signed an NDA, severance, or arbitration agreement and want to know if recent federal law (Speak Out Act, EFAA) lets you bring the claim anyway.
- The harassment came from a third party (gym, salon, medical office, contractor) at a Broward workplace.
How Florida sexual harassment law actually works
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
The federal statute applies to employers with 15 or more employees. It covers sex-based harassment (including same-sex), pregnancy, and sexual orientation and gender identity after Bostock v. Clayton County (2020). Caps on compensatory and punitive damages run from $50,000 (15-100 employees) to $300,000 (500+ employees). Lost wages and attorney's fees are uncapped on top.
Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA)
Florida's parallel state statute covers employers with 15 or more employees. The FCRA caps compensatory and punitive damages at $100,000. Many cases plead both statutes — the FCRA filing extends the federal window to 365 days, and the state and federal claims can be tried together in Broward Circuit Court or the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The Faragher/Ellerth defense
Employers can sometimes escape liability for non-supervisor harassment by showing (1) they had an effective complaint process and (2) the employee unreasonably failed to use it. Reporting in writing — email, HR portal, employee handbook channel — defeats this defense. A Fort Lauderdale employment lawyer will tell you when (and how) to report.
The Speak Out Act and EFAA (2022)
The Speak Out Act voids pre-dispute NDAs for sexual harassment claims. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act lets you take a sexual harassment claim to court even if you signed a pre-dispute arbitration clause. Both are recent — many Broward employers' onboarding paperwork has not caught up.
Florida's two-year personal-injury statute
Common-law claims like assault, battery, or intentional infliction of emotional distress for severe harassment have a 4-year statute (2 years for negligence) under Florida law. These can be added to a Title VII / FCRA case to capture conduct that's older than the EEOC window.
What these cases cost in Fort Lauderdale
$0
Up-front cost on most cases
33%–40%
Contingency on recovery
Fee-shift
Employer pays your fees if you win
Title VII and the FCRA both shift attorney's fees to the losing defendant on prevailing-plaintiff claims. That fee-shifting is why most Fort Lauderdale plaintiff employment firms take strong cases on contingency or hybrid (small hourly + contingency). Read the engagement letter. Ask which damages cap applies and what the firm projects for fees and costs.
How long Fort Lauderdale sexual harassment cases take
- EEOC charge to Right-to-Sue notice: 6 to 14 months. The EEOC may investigate, mediate, or simply issue a Right-to-Sue.
- FCHR charge: 180 days for the FCHR to investigate before you can sue.
- Pre-suit settlement: 30% of cases settle at EEOC mediation or shortly after Right-to-Sue, within 6 to 12 months total.
- Filed in Broward Circuit Court: 12 to 24 months to trial or settlement.
- Filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida: 14 to 24 months. SDFL has the "rocket docket" reputation but harassment cases still take time.