Helpful definitions
Every worker has a right to safety and respect. You're protected from workplace harassment, discrimination, and abuse. Learn your rights below.
Bullying
Bullying involves repeated, deliberate behavior designed to intimidate, humiliate, or undermine someone's professional standing. Unlike tough feedback, it's personal harassment that creates hostile work environments and harms victims' well-being.
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Bullying does not include legitimate, respectful feedback or advice to improve work performance.
Conduct may not rise to the level of bullying if it is merely rude (inadvertently saying or doing something hurtful), mean (purposefully saying or doing something hurtful, but not as part of a pattern of behavior), or arising from the conflict between people with incompatible views or positions.
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There isn’t a federal or state law in California, Georgia, or New York prohibiting workplace bullying.
However, many studios, streamers, production companies, and other employers have policies against abusive behavior that make violations subject to discipline up to and including termination. In some cases, severe abuse inflicting physical or emotional harm could support legal claims of battery or intentional infliction of emotional distress or even a temporary restraining order.
Discrimination
Discrimination is unfair treatment based on protected characteristics like race, gender, age, or religion rather than qualifications or performance. It includes unequal hiring, pay disparities, and hostile treatment that violates civil rights laws.
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Discrimination can occur in two ways:
Disparate Treatment: Intentional discrimination by an employer because of a person’s membership in a protected class.
Disparate Impact: An employment policy or practice that seems non-discriminatory but disproportionately adversely impacts people of a particular protected class.
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Depending on the circumstances, the following may constitute discrimination:
-Refusal to hold auditions in a wheelchair-accessible building
-Refusal to hire writers over the age of 35
-Limiting opportunities for work because of, e.g., pregnancy.
Harassment
Harassment is unwelcome conduct based on protected characteristics that creates a hostile work environment or affects employment decisions. It includes verbal, physical, or visual behavior that interferes with work performance.
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No. Many types of conduct typically considered to be “harassing” are legal.
Harassment is illegal if:
1) The behavior targets a worker because of a legally protected characteristic
2) A worker must undergo the offensive conduct as a means of continued employment
3) The conduct creates a hostile work environment
An employer’s policy may rise above the standard of the law and prohibit harassment, bullying, or abusive behaviors that are not considered illegal.
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It depends. Many characteristics, like race and gender, are always protected. The complete list of characteristics protected by law depends on where the employee works. An employer may also protect additional characteristics.
Federal & Georgia
Age
Disability
Genetic information
National origin
Pregnancy
Race/color
Religion
Retaliation
Sex (including sex stereotyping)
Sexual orientation
Gender identity
California
Race (including traits historically associated with race including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles)
Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, breastfeeding, and conditions related to breastfeeding)
Gender
Religion (including religious dress and grooming practices)
Color
National origin
Ancestry
Physical or mental disability
Medical condition
Marital status
Registered domestic partner status
Sexual orientation
Gender Identity and gender expression
Age (age 40 and over)
Genetic information
Military and/or veteran status
Lawful change of name
Social Security Number or federal employment authorization document
Receipt of Medi-Cal coverage
California driver’s license with a “federal limits apply” notation
New York
Race
Creed
Color
National origin
Sexual orientation
Military status
Sex
Age
Marital status
Domestic violence victim status
Disability
Pregnancy-related condition
Predisposing genetic characteristics
Prior arrest or conviction record
Gender identity or expression
Familial status
Lawful source of income (in housing only)
Retaliation for opposing unlawful discriminatory practices
Criminal history
Microagressions
Microaggressions are subtle, often unconscious comments or actions that express bias toward marginalized groups. These seemingly minor incidents communicate hostile or derogatory messages that can accumulate and create harmful workplace environments.
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Microaggression is a term used for commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups.
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Microaggressions are typically perpetrated repeatedly, which causes harm by creating numerous incidents that a person must navigate.
After a microaggression, emotional well-being and safety are impacted negatively for the person harmed. They are related to increased burnout and less job satisfaction.
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Apologize to the person harmed and reflect on the area of unconscious bias that informed the microaggression. This may require doing research and participating in learning opportunities to address bias.
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If you believe your workplace is a hostile or uncomfortable work environment because of microaggressions, it may be unlawful.
Retaliation
Retaliation occurs when someone faces negative consequences for reporting misconduct, filing complaints, or participating in investigations. This includes firing, demotion, exclusion, or other punitive actions that are illegal under employment law.
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Examples of conduct that, depending on the circumstances, may be retaliatory include but are not limited to:
-Replacing or terminating at the end of a season; reducing pay, demoting or suspending
-Threatening to deny employment (“If you pick up the phone, you’re dead in this town”)
-Recommend a producer not to hire someone who reported misconduct because “they are difficult” or “make trouble.”
-Making physical threats.
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Yes.
Both federal and state laws prohibit an employer from retaliating against any person (whether or not an employee) for making a discrimination or harassment complaint, assisting another person in making a complaint, testifying, or otherwise participating in a discrimination or harassment investigation.
The law prohibits all forms of retaliation, from threats and negative performance reviews to termination or non-renewal of employment. Retaliation is a separate violation, even if the underlying complaint is disproved or found to lack merit.
If you are retaliated against, you may report to an employer or complain to a federal or state agency.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that affects employment or creates a hostile work environment. It's illegal and violates workplace dignity.
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Sexual harassment is any behavior characterized by the making of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks or physical advances in a workplace or other professional or social situation.
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There are two categories of illegal sexual harassment:
“Hostile Work Environment”
Sexual harassment is characterized by conduct that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
This may include unwelcome verbal, physical, or visual conduct that is severe or pervasive and creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment or interferes with work performance. You may experience such sexual harassment even if the offensive conduct was not directed towards you.
Examples of “Hostile Work Environment”
Sexually explicit or derogatory comments or jokes, either out loud or via email
inappropriate touching or groping; visual conduct includes making sexually suggestive gestures or publicly displaying sexually suggestive or explicit images.
The following conduct may also constitute sexual harassment, including for observers:
-“We should make sure the PAs are hotter” (off-color comments)
-Calling an executive a “cynical bitch” (gender-specific slurs)
-Telling a grip they’re “such a pussy” or “sissy” (belittling and sex stereotyping)
-Repeated requests for dates, despite rejection
-Blocking someone’s exit from a wardrobe trailer
-Lingering hugs, hugs from behind, massages or shoulder rubs, caressing or poking
“Quid Pro Quo”
Quid Pro Quo means “this for that.” This kind of harassment occurs when sexual favors are requested or demanded in exchange for a specific benefit.
“Quid Pro Quo” sexual harassment generally happens through an offer or a threat:
An employer or supervisor offers an employee some benefit that is conditioned upon the employee submitting to a sexual favor
Examples of “Quid Pro Quo”
-Producer agrees to cast actor/actress only if s/he submits to sexual request(s).
-An employer or supervisor threatens an employee with work-related action, like a threat of termination, unless the employee submits to certain sexual demands. Merely hinting at a job benefit in exchange for sexual favors can constitute quid pro quo sexual harassment.
-The financier threatens to pull funding from the project because an individual refuses to submit to sexual request(s).
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It depends. Many characteristics, like race and gender, are always protected. The complete list of characteristics protected by law depends on where the employee works. An employer may also protect additional characteristics.
Federal & Georgia
Age
Disability
Genetic information
National origin
Pregnancy
Race/color
Religion
Retaliation
Sex (including sex stereotyping)
Sexual orientation
Gender identity
California
Race (including traits historically associated with race including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles)
Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, breastfeeding, and conditions related to breastfeeding)
Gender
Religion (including religious dress and grooming practices)
Color
National origin
Ancestry
Physical or mental disability
Medical condition
Marital status
Registered domestic partner status
Sexual orientation
Gender Identity and gender expression
Age (age 40 and over)
Genetic information
Military and/or veteran status
Lawful change of name
Social Security Number or federal employment authorization document
Receipt of Medi-Cal coverage
California driver’s license with a “federal limits apply” notation
New York
Race
Creed
Color
National origin
Sexual orientation
Military status
Sex
Age
Marital status
Domestic violence victim status
Disability
Pregnancy-related condition
Predisposing genetic characteristics
Prior arrest or conviction record
Gender identity or expression
Familial status
Lawful source of income (in housing only)
Retaliation for opposing unlawful discriminatory practices
Criminal history
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A harasser’s motives for their comments or actions don’t matter.
They may attempt to compliment, play matchmaker, inappropriately share details of their sexual exploits, or they may be ignorant of generally offensive behavior.
What matters is how you feel on the receiving end of their behavior. Oftentimes courts will assess whether or not a reasonable person would be offended by the harasser’s action(s).
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Yes. Even employees who are only indirectly affected by offensive conduct in the workplace could have cause for a complaint.
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You’re protected. An employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace extends to anywhere work is conducted. This can include the wardrobe trailer, an audition, a business trip, or a social function like a wrap party or premiere.
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No. Many believe that for something to be considered sexual harassment, physical touching or abuse must be involved. However, sexual harassment can take many forms, including verbal or written, physical, nonverbal, or visual.
Contrary to popular belief, most sexual harassment aims to put people down.
The most common form of sexual harassment is gender harassment – acts that convey offensive, demeaning, or derisive attitudes based on gender or sex.
Examples of gender harassment include:
Insults to the target's abilities – “Women don’t belong in visual effects” or “Men suck as makeup artists.”
Vulgar and aggressive name calling, like calling a supervisor an “ignorant slut” or a co-worker a “whore”
The display or online sharing of sexually degrading images and slogans like lewd graffiti, graphic cartoons, or sexual slurs scrawled on whiteboards.
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Anyone. People traditionally think of sexual harassment as being perpetrated by a man towards a woman, but this isn’t always true. The gender identity of the individual engaging in the conduct or claiming harassment is not controlling or relevant.