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No, and Texas gives you strikingly little protection if you do. There is no Texas statute making you a protected class as a crime victim, and no state law requiring an employer to give you leave to attend a hearing or recover. What Texas gives you is a letter: the prosecutor will notify your employer, if you ask, that your cooperation and testimony is necessary. That is a courtesy, not job security.
The comparison is worth making, because it shows the gap plainly.
A juror is protected by statute. An employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce a permanent employee for serving as a juror or for attending in connection with that service.
A sexual assault victim testifying in the same courthouse is not. Texas has no equivalent provision.
The answer changes completely if the assault or the harassment happened at work, and that is where the real protection lives.
Article 56A.051 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lists the rights of a crime victim. Subsection (a)(10) is the employment provision: the right to have the attorney representing the state notify the victim’s employer, if requested, that the victim’s cooperation and testimony is necessary in a proceeding that may require the victim to be absent from work for good cause.
Notify. Not require. Not protect.
Chapter 56A contains no provision addressing discharge, termination, retaliation or adverse action by an employer, whatever other published material implies.
Section 122.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code provides that an employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce a permanent employee because the employee serves as a juror, or for the employee’s attendance or scheduled attendance in connection with that service, in any court in the United States. An employee discharged in violation is entitled to reinstatement.
Texas protects the person in the jury box. It does not, by statute, protect the person on the witness stand describing what was done to her.
Where the conduct was sexual harassment by a supervisor, a coworker or in some circumstances a third party, Texas gives you a statute with unusual reach.
Subchapter C-1 of Chapter 21 of the Labor Code was added in 2021. Section 21.141 defines employer for this subchapter as a person who employs one or more employees, or who acts directly in the interests of an employer in relation to an employee.
One employee. That is far broader than the fifteen-employee threshold under federal law and broader than the rest of Chapter 21. A very small Texas employer is covered for sexual harassment.
Section 21.142 provides that an employer commits an unlawful employment practice if sexual harassment of an employee occurs and the employer or the employer’s agents or supervisors know or should have known that the conduct was occurring and fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
Section 21.202(a) requires a complaint under that subchapter to be filed not later than the 180th day after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred.
Section 21.202(a-1) gives a longer period for one category only. A complaint alleging sexual harassment must be filed not later than the 300th day after the date the alleged sexual harassment occurred.
Section 21.202(b) provides that the commission shall dismiss an untimely complaint. There is no discretion in that sentence.
Note what this means for someone deciding slowly. If what happened at work included sexual harassment, you have 300 days. If your complaint is framed as something else, retaliation or discrimination on another ground, you may have 180. The framing changes the deadline.
Do I have to tell my employer why I need time off? No statute requires you to disclose that you were assaulted. Whether the employer’s own leave policy requires a reason is a contract and policy question.
Can they fire me for missing work? Texas is an at-will employment state. Absent a statute, a contract or a policy that says otherwise, generally yes. That is the uncomfortable answer.
Will my employer find out if I sue? A civil lawsuit is a public filing, and an employer can be subpoenaed for employment and earnings records where lost wages are claimed. Whether to claim lost earnings is a decision with a privacy cost, and it should be made deliberately.
What about FMLA? The federal Family and Medical Leave Act may provide unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition, including a mental health condition, where both the employer and the employee meet its coverage requirements. It is federal, it is not victim-specific, and the eligibility thresholds exclude many workers.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Lost wages are recoverable, and claiming them opens a door. Past and future lost earning capacity are real damages in a civil case. Claiming them makes your work history and earnings discoverable. That is a trade, not a trap, and it should be an informed choice.
Keep your own record. Dates missed, appointments, the reason given, and any conversation with a manager. If retaliation becomes the issue later, the contemporaneous note is the evidence.
Two clocks run at once. A workplace harassment complaint runs on 180 or 300 days. A civil claim against a property owner runs on two years. Neither one waits for the other.
The first conversation is free, it is confidential, and it does not commit you to anything.
If the question is simply whether you have to tell your employer, we can answer that in a few minutes and you never have to speak to us again.
If what happened involved your workplace, the 300 day deadline is short and it is the one people miss while they are deciding whether the whole thing is worth it.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
There is no Texas statute giving a crime victim job protection or leave. Article 56A.051(a)(10) gives you the right to have the prosecutor notify your employer, on request, that your cooperation and testimony is necessary. That is notification, not protection.
It does protect jurors. Section 122.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code bars an employer from discharging, threatening, intimidating or coercing an employee for jury service. Texas has no equivalent statute for a crime victim who must attend as a witness.
Then Subchapter C-1 of Chapter 21 of the Labor Code applies, and it is unusually broad. It defines employer as a person employing one or more employees, and it makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer who knew or should have known of sexual harassment to fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
A sexual harassment complaint must be filed not later than the 300th day after it occurred under Section 21.202(a-1). Other complaints under that subchapter carry a 180 day deadline. The commission must dismiss an untimely complaint.
No statute requires you to say you were assaulted. Whether your employer’s own leave policy requires a reason is a policy and contract question, not a statutory one.
A lawsuit is a public filing, and if you claim lost wages your employment and earnings records become discoverable. Whether to claim lost earnings is a decision with a privacy cost and should be made deliberately.
