Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Utah

Thirty days, and the trigger is harsh. Utah Code 63G-4-401(3)(a) requires a petition for judicial review of final agency action to be filed within 30 days after the day on which the order constituting the final agency action is issued, which means issuance rather than the day you receive it. There are also 30 day deadlines inside the agency: a request for a de novo evidentiary hearing before the Division of Adjudication under Utah Code 34A-5-107(4)(c) and (5)(c), and a request for review by the commissioner or Appeals Board under 34A-5-107(11). Missing any of them converts the order in place into the final order of the commission.

Utah Code 34A-5-102(1)(i) reaches a person employing 15 or more employees within the state for each working day in each of 20 calendar weeks or more in the current or preceding calendar year, which matches the federal threshold but counts only in-state employees. A national company with hundreds of workers and nine in Utah can be a federal employer and not a Utah one. Public employers, including the state, political subdivisions, school districts, boards, commissions and institutions, are covered with no minimum headcount at all. Utah has no lower threshold for sexual harassment claims.

Generally not, and the exclusion is broader than the federal one. Utah Code 34A-5-102(1)(i) excludes religious organizations, religious corporations sole, religious associations, religious societies, religious educational institutions and religious leaders acting in that capacity from the definition of employer, along with any corporation or association that is an affiliate, wholly owned subsidiary or agency of one. The same subsection also excludes the Boy Scouts of America and its councils, chapters and subsidiaries. Because these are exclusions from the definition rather than defenses, a worker at one of those organizations is outside the Act regardless of the basis of the harassment.

Yes. Utah Code 34A-5-106(1)(a)(i) lists sexual orientation and gender identity among the bases on which an employer may not harass or discriminate, which surprises many readers. Utah defines gender identity by reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and, under 34A-5-102(1)(o), contemplates evidence such as medical history, care or treatment, and consistent and uniform assertion of the identity. Separate sections preserve reasonable dress and grooming standards that reasonably accommodate gender identity and the use of sex-specific facilities, so those questions are handled differently from harassment itself.

It is possible, and Utah is unusual in saying so plainly. Utah Code 34A-5-107(7)(b) provides that the presiding officer may order that the respondent be reimbursed by the complaining party for the respondent's attorney fees and costs. The text does not require a finding that the claim was frivolous or brought in bad faith. That risk is a reason to have a Utah employment lawyer look at the strength of the claim before filing rather than after.

Talk to a lawyer before running both, because Utah treats them as alternatives rather than parallel tracks. Utah Code 34A-5-107(16)(a) provides that commencing an action under federal law for relief based on an act prohibited by the chapter bars the commencement or continuation of a commission proceeding on the same claim, and 34A-5-107(16)(c) states that nothing in that subsection alters the exclusive remedy provision. Subsection (16)(b) also treats a transfer of your request for agency action to the EEOC under a work-share agreement as commencing a federal action for that purpose. How the division uses that transfer power in practice is not something the statute answers, so ask about it when you file.