Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Alabama
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team - Alabama - Last updated September 15, 2026
Alabama is the shortest answer of any state, and the shortness is the answer. There is no Alabama fair employment practices agency, no civil rights commission, no human relations commission, and no state administrative forum of any kind for a workplace harassment complaint. Across the entire Code of Alabama 1975, all 49,637 sections of it, the phrase "fair employment" appears zero times and "hostile work environment" appears zero times. The phrase "sexual harassment" appears exactly once, in a single county's list of grounds for discipline in its civil service system. The federal side agrees: the EEOC Birmingham District Office's own page listing the state and local programs it works with names no Alabama entity at all. So the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is your route, and its deadline is the deadline. Two consequences follow that are easy to get wrong. First, generic advice that you have "180 or 300 days" is not safe here, because the longer window depends on a state or local agency that Alabama does not have. Second, Title VII reaches only employers with 15 or more employees, and Alabama does nothing to lower that floor the way Illinois or Michigan do, so a worker at a small Alabama company may have no harassment claim at all. This page states what Alabama does and does not give you, and stops there.
Find out where you stand in Alabama
Where are you with the harassment complaint?
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Is there an Alabama state agency I can file a workplace harassment complaint with?
No. Alabama has no fair employment practices agency, no civil rights commission and no human relations commission, and no state administrative forum of any kind for an employment harassment complaint. This is confirmed from two directions. Reading the whole Code of Alabama 1975 produces zero occurrences of the phrase "fair employment" and zero of "civil rights commission" across all 49,637 sections. And the EEOC Birmingham District Office's own page for the state, local and tribal programs it partners with lists no Alabama agency. Your complaint goes to the EEOC.
How long do I have to file a workplace harassment complaint in Alabama?
Work to 180 days from the conduct. The EEOC's rule is that a charge must generally be filed within 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place, and that this is extended to 300 calendar days only if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting employment discrimination on the same basis. Alabama has no such agency, which puts the longer window in doubt, so the safe course is to treat 180 days as your deadline and to confirm your specific date directly with the EEOC. In a harassment case the period runs from the last incident, though the EEOC will consider all incidents when it investigates. There is no state deadline to fall back on if you miss it.
Do I have to file with a state agency in Alabama before I can sue?
There is no state agency to file with, so the state half of that question does not arise. The federal half does, and the answer is yes: a Title VII harassment claim requires a charge with the EEOC before a lawsuit, and the EEOC issues the notice of right to sue that opens the courthouse door. Be careful with a sentence you may run into from Ala. Code Section 25-1-29, that "a plaintiff shall not be required to pursue any administrative action or remedy prior to filing suit under this article." That belongs to Alabama's age discrimination statute and says nothing about harassment, where the federal charge requirement applies in full.
There is no Alabama agency to complain to and no Alabama harassment statute, which leaves the federal clock as the only one that matters.
Alabama has no state agency that takes workplace harassment complaints. There is no fair employment practices commission, no civil rights commission and no human relations commission anywhere in Alabama law, for private-sector or public-sector employees. The EEOC Birmingham District Office's page for state, local and tribal programs lists only a Florida agency and no Alabama one, which is the federal government's own confirmation of the gap.
Relevant Laws
No Fair Employment Practices Statute in the Code of Alabama 1975
Alabama has no fair employment practices act, no civil rights commission and no human relations commission. Across all 49,637 sections of the code, the phrase fair employment appears zero times and hostile work environment appears zero times. Title 25, the labor title, contains 17 chapters and none of them is a fair employment chapter, so there is no state statute under which a harassment claim can be brought.
Alabama Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Ala. Code Section 25-1-20 to 25-1-29
The AADEA prohibits discrimination against a worker 40 years of age and over, and Section 25-1-20(2) defines employer as any person employing 20 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks. Every prohibition in the article is triggered only because of the age of the individual. It is an age statute and creates no harassment remedy on any other basis.
No Administrative Prerequisite Under Ala. Code Section 25-1-29
The age statute's remedies section provides that a plaintiff shall not be required to pursue any administrative action or remedy prior to filing suit under that article, and lets an aggrieved person elect between federal remedies and a civil action in the circuit court of the county of employment. This is often quoted as though it applied to harassment. It does not, and treating it that way would skip the EEOC charge that a Title VII harassment claim requires.
Clarke-Figures Equal Pay Act, Ala. Code Section 25-1-30
Alabama's only self-contained state employment discrimination deadline sits here: subsection (h) provides that a civil action may be commenced no later than two years after the act of discrimination giving rise to a cause of action, with no agency step. The Act reaches unequal pay by sex or race and wage-history retaliation, and the section states no employee-count threshold. It is not a harassment remedy and is listed only so it is not mistaken for one.
Equal Employment Opportunity for Minorities, Ala. Code Section 25-1-10
Article 2 of Chapter 25-1 carries this heading and contains one section, which applies only whenever an employer in this state sponsors or initiates a program of affirmative action and simply defines who counts as a minority. It creates no duty, no protected class and no complaint procedure. It is the most misleading heading in Alabama employment law and should not be read as a fair employment statute.
Regional Variances
How Alabama differs
In a full-text reading of all 49,637 sections of
In a full-text reading of all 49,637 sections of the Code of Alabama 1975, the phrase "fair employment" appears zero times, "hostile work environment" appears zero times, and "sexual harassment" appears exactly once, in Section 45-58-121.11, a local act listing grounds for discipline in one county's civil service system. None of that creates a complaint route or a cause of action for anyone at a private employer.
Nothing to exhaust at the state level does not
Nothing to exhaust at the state level does not mean nothing to exhaust. Alabama's age discrimination statute says in terms at Ala. Code Section 25-1-29 that "a plaintiff shall not be required to pursue any administrative action or remedy prior to filing suit under this article," and that sentence gets quoted out of context as though it meant Alabama workers can go straight to court over harassment. It applies to that age statute, not to harassment. For a harassment claim, Title VII's charge requirement applies in full: you file with the EEOC before you sue.
Work to 180 days and do not assume 300.
Work to 180 days and do not assume 300. The EEOC's general rule is that a charge must be filed within 180 calendar days of the day the discrimination took place, extended to 300 calendar days only where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination. Alabama has no such state agency, so the extension does not apply by default. The rule does say state or local, so it is worth asking the EEOC whether a city or county ordinance where you work supplies it, but never plan around an extension you have not confirmed. Treat 180 days as your deadline and confirm your own date with the EEOC when you make contact.
Suggested Compliance Checklist
Equal Employment Opportunity for Minorities, Ala. Code Section 25-1-10
See your deadline days after startingArticle 2 of Chapter 25-1 carries this heading and contains one section, which applies only whenever an employer in this state sponsors or initiates a program of affirmative action and simply defines who counts as a minority. It creates no duty, no protected class and no complaint procedure. It is the most misleading heading in Alabama employment law and should not be read as a fair employment statute.
No Harassment Training Mandate in Alabama
See your deadline days after startingNo Alabama employer, public or private and of any size, has a statutory harassment training obligation. The phrase sexual harassment appears once in the entire Code of Alabama, in Section 45-58-121.11, a local act listing grounds for discipline in one county's civil service system. Any training or complaint procedure your employer has comes from its own policy or a contract, not from state law.
File a Charge with the EEOC, Birmingham District Office
See your deadline days after startingThe EEOC is the only route for an Alabama harassment complaint, and its Birmingham District Office covers the state. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and a charge must be filed before a Title VII lawsuit; the EEOC issues the notice of right to sue. Start an EEOC inquiry rather than waiting for an internal investigation to finish, because the internal process does not pause the charge period.
Work to the 180-Day EEOC Charge Period
See your deadline days after startingThe EEOC's general period is 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place, extended to 300 calendar days only where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination. Alabama has no such agency, so do not rely on the longer window. In a harassment case the period runs from the last incident, so record that date and confirm your deadline with the EEOC directly.
| Task | Description | Document | Days after starting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equal Employment Opportunity for Minorities, Ala. Code Section 25-1-10 | Article 2 of Chapter 25-1 carries this heading and contains one section, which applies only whenever an employer in this state sponsors or initiates a program of affirmative action and simply defines who counts as a minority. It creates no duty, no protected class and no complaint procedure. It is the most misleading heading in Alabama employment law and should not be read as a fair employment statute. | - | See your deadline |
| No Harassment Training Mandate in Alabama | No Alabama employer, public or private and of any size, has a statutory harassment training obligation. The phrase sexual harassment appears once in the entire Code of Alabama, in Section 45-58-121.11, a local act listing grounds for discipline in one county's civil service system. Any training or complaint procedure your employer has comes from its own policy or a contract, not from state law. | - | See your deadline |
| File a Charge with the EEOC, Birmingham District Office | The EEOC is the only route for an Alabama harassment complaint, and its Birmingham District Office covers the state. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and a charge must be filed before a Title VII lawsuit; the EEOC issues the notice of right to sue. Start an EEOC inquiry rather than waiting for an internal investigation to finish, because the internal process does not pause the charge period. | - | See your deadline |
| Work to the 180-Day EEOC Charge Period | The EEOC's general period is 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place, extended to 300 calendar days only where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination. Alabama has no such agency, so do not rely on the longer window. In a harassment case the period runs from the last incident, so record that date and confirm your deadline with the EEOC directly. | - | See your deadline |
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Alabama's entire employment discrimination output is two statutes, and neither is a harassment statute. The Alabama Age Discrimination in Employment Act at Ala. Code Section 25-1-20 through 25-1-29 covers age 40 and over and nothing else, and the Clarke-Figures Equal Pay Act at Ala. Code Section 25-1-30 covers pay rates by sex and race. There is no Alabama statute that prohibits a hostile work environment, and the phrase does not appear anywhere in the state's code. A harassment claim in Alabama is a federal claim.
Then you may have no harassment claim at all, and that is worth knowing before a deadline passes. Title VII reaches employers with 15 or more employees, and Alabama has no state statute that lowers the floor. The one Alabama employment statute that does set a threshold, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act at Section 25-1-20, sets it higher still at 20 employees, and it reaches only age. Someone being harassed at a ten-person Alabama company has no state harassment statute and no federal one. There may still be other avenues, such as a common law claim or, if the conduct is criminal, a police report, and those are questions for a lawyer rather than assumptions to make on your own.
It does not. The figure comes from Ala. Code Section 25-1-20(2), which defines employer for the Alabama Age Discrimination in Employment Act as any person employing 20 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. That is the state age statute's threshold, borrowed from the federal age statute, and age is the only basis it covers. For harassment there is no Alabama threshold at all, because there is no Alabama harassment statute to have one. The only number that matters for a harassment charge is Title VII's 15.
No. Alabama imposes no harassment training obligation on any employer, public or private, of any size. States such as Illinois, California and New York require annual training; Alabama requires none, and the words sexual harassment appear only once in its entire code, in one county's list of grounds for discipline. Your employer may still have its own policy, and if it does, following that policy in writing and keeping a copy of what you sent is worth doing, because the record is useful later even though no statute compels the employer to have one.
A charge filed outside the EEOC's period is generally time-barred, and in Alabama there is no state administrative alternative sitting behind it and no state harassment statute to sue under instead. That makes the federal deadline effectively the whole case. If you think a deadline may already have run, speak to an employment lawyer promptly rather than stopping, because whether any exception applies depends on facts that are not safe to assess alone. Attorney review is an option if you want the dates checked before you file.
If anyone has been assaulted, threatened or is in immediate danger, call emergency services first, because criminal conduct is a matter for the police rather than for an employment agency. Otherwise, start a dated log of every incident with names, what was said or done and who else was present, and keep it outside systems your employer controls. Report the conduct in writing if there is an internal policy. Then contact the EEOC rather than looking for an Alabama agency. Section 25-1-29 shows the legislature knew it had built no administrative forum, so there is no state step to take first and no state body that will catch a late federal filing.
Other Alabama guides
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