Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Wisconsin

Yes, and this is where Wisconsin is far stronger than federal law. Wis. Stat. 111.32(6)(a) defines an employer as the state and each state agency and any other person engaging in any activity, enterprise or business employing at least one individual. There is no minimum headcount and no requirement that the employer have employed anyone for a set number of calendar weeks. Federal Title VII does not apply below 15 employees, so a worker at a two or three person Wisconsin business can have a full state claim and no federal claim at all. Three limits travel with that: a social club or fraternal society is not an employer as to a job advertised only within its membership, an individual employed by a parent, spouse or child is not an employee under Wis. Stat. 111.32(5), and Wis. Stat. 111.3205 means a franchisor is generally not the employer of a franchisee's employees.

Less than the broad coverage might suggest, which is why the federal route matters even to Wisconsin workers who have a strong state claim. The current chapter contains no provision for compensatory or punitive damages under the act, so relief from a department examiner is built around ordering the conduct to stop and awarding back pay rather than compensating you for distress. If your employer has 15 or more employees, a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the route through which damages are ordinarily sought, and it runs on its own deadline alongside the state complaint. A Wisconsin employment lawyer can tell you what an order in your case would realistically contain before you decide which system to put your effort into.

It is worth considering seriously whenever your employer has 15 or more employees, because the federal system is where damages are ordinarily available and the state system is not. The two proceedings are separate, with separate deadlines, and a state complaint does not preserve a federal charge. Get the federal deadline directly from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office covering Wisconsin rather than assuming a number, because the EEOC revises the periods it publishes without notice. If your employer has fewer than 15 employees, the federal route is generally closed to you and the state complaint is what you have, which makes the 300 day deadline all the more important.

Yes. Wis. Stat. 111.321 lists arrest record and conviction record as protected bases alongside age, race, creed, color, disability, marital status, sex, national origin, ancestry and military service. It also protects the use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer's premises during nonworking hours, and declining to attend a meeting or participate in a communication about religious or political matters. Those are real protections that most states do not offer. Two drafting points are worth knowing: sexual orientation is protected but does not appear in the 111.321 list, sitting instead at Wis. Stat. 111.36(1)(d), and gender identity does not appear anywhere in the chapter, so a claim on that basis should be discussed with a lawyer rather than assumed.

Wisconsin's definition does not require the conduct to be repeated, which is a meaningful difference from the federal approach that asks whether conduct was severe or pervasive. That does not mean every single incident will support a finding, but it does mean you should not talk yourself out of filing because something happened only once. Record the incident with the same care you would give a pattern: what was said or done, the date, where you were, whether you were performing work duties at the time, and who else was present. Location and work duties matter separately in Wisconsin because of how the employer liability presumption is written.

The division investigates and makes a probable cause determination, then attempts to resolve the matter by conference, conciliation or persuasion under Wis. Stat. 111.39(4)(b). If that does not resolve it, the division serves written notice of a hearing before a department examiner, which is set not less than 30 days after the notice is served, and the examiner issues written findings and an order. Either party may petition the Labor and Industry Review Commission to review that order within 21 days of mailing under Wis. Stat. 111.39(5), and if no petition is filed the examiner's order becomes final. The 21 day window is short and easy to miss, so calendar it as soon as an order arrives.