Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Wyoming

If you want to use the state act, the complaint to the Department of Workforce Services is the proceeding rather than a step toward one. There is no separate court claim waiting at the end of it. The genuinely separate decision is whether to also file a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is a different system with a different deadline and different remedies. Many Wyoming workers file with both, and the department is expressly authorised by Wyo. Stat. 27-9-104(a)(vii) to exchange information with and assist the EEOC. Because the state period is the shorter of the two, calendar that one first.

Yes, and this is where Wyoming is much stronger than federal law. Wyo. Stat. 27-9-102(b) defines an employer as the state of Wyoming or any political subdivision, board, commission, department, institution or school district, and every other person employing two or more employees within the state. There is no requirement that the employer have employed anyone for a set number of weeks. Federal Title VII does not apply below 15 employees, so a worker at a three or four person Wyoming business can have a full state claim and no federal claim at all. The same provision covers public and private employers on the same terms.

Generally not, and this is the exclusion most likely to catch someone out. The same sentence of Wyo. Stat. 27-9-102(b) that sets the two employee threshold says the term employer does not mean religious organizations or associations. That excludes the entity from the act, which is broader than the federal approach, where a religious employer may prefer members of its own faith but remains subject to the rest of the law. If you were harassed while working for a church, a religious school or a faith based nonprofit in Wyoming, speak to an employment lawyer early rather than assuming the state route is open to you.

Wyo. Stat. 27-9-105(a)(i) makes it a discriminatory or unfair employment practice to discriminate in the terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of age, sex, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry or pregnancy, or against a qualified disabled person. Two things worth knowing: sexual orientation and gender identity do not appear anywhere in the chapter, and the statute uses creed rather than religion. Age is protected only for people at least 40 years old, under Wyo. Stat. 27-9-105(b). Federal law may reach some conduct the state list does not, which is another reason to look at both systems rather than only one.

In one specific respect, yes. Wyo. Stat. 27-9-105(a)(iv) makes it an unfair employment practice for an employer to require as a condition of employment that you use or refrain from using tobacco products outside the course of your employment, or to discriminate against you in pay or in the terms and conditions of employment on that basis. There are exceptions where not using tobacco is a bona fide occupational qualification, and for insurance policies that charge different rates reflecting an actual differential cost where the employer gives written notice. Beyond that provision the chapter does not address off duty conduct, and it contains no language about social media or electronic communication, so raise that kind of harassment specifically with a lawyer.

The department investigates to determine the validity of the charges and issues a determination. If you or the employer are aggrieved by that determination, either of you may request a fair hearing, which is conducted under the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act by an independent hearing officer the department contracts with under Wyo. Stat. 27-9-104(b). If the hearing officer finds a discriminatory or unfair practice, the decision may order the employer to stop, require hiring, reinstatement or upgrading, require notices and reports, and award back pay or front pay. Under Wyo. Stat. 27-9-106(m) the department then issues an order within 14 days, and may petition a district court for enforcement if the employer does not appeal or comply within 30 days.