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In most cases no statute requires you to tell your employer, and Texas also gives you very little job protection if you do. In most cases, Texas statutes do not make a crime victim a protected class. And in most cases, no state law requires your employer to give you leave to recover or attend a hearing.
The answer can change a great deal if the harassment or the assault happened at work. Then Chapter 21 of the Labor Code may apply, and it has a deadline that runs whether or not you have decided anything. A sexual harassment complaint has to be filed within 300 days. If what happened involved your workplace, that clock cannot wait. Call 713-521-0059.
It gives you a notice to your employer, not protection from being fired. Article 56A.051 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lists the rights of a crime victim. Subsection (a)(10) is the employment provision, and under it you have the right to have the attorney representing the state notify your employer, if requested, that your cooperation and testimony is necessary. That notice covers a proceeding that may require you to be absent from work for good cause.
The statute says notify, but it does not say require, and it does not say protect. Chapter 56A generally does not address discharge, termination, retaliation or adverse action by an employer.
In many cases, yes, because Texas is an at-will employment state. Absent a statute, a contract or a policy that says otherwise, your employer can generally let you go for missing work. That is hard to hear, and you should know it before you make plans.
Compare that with the protection Texas gives a juror. Under Section 122.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, an employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce a permanent employee because the employee serves as a juror. The same protection covers the employee’s attendance or scheduled attendance in connection with that service, in any court in the United States.
An employee who gives the employer notice of intent to return, as soon as practical after jury service, is entitled to return to the same job. Section 122.002 provides for reinstatement and damages. Two 2019 versions of Section 122.001 are in effect, and the other one protects a juror or grand juror from termination by a private employer.
Texas protects the person in the jury box, but it does not, by statute, protect you on the witness stand in the same courthouse. Texas generally has no equivalent provision for a crime victim who testifies.
Then the analysis can be very different. 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. That threshold of one employee is generally far broader than the fifteen-employee threshold under federal law, and broader than the rest of Chapter 21. A very small Texas employer can be covered for sexual harassment.
Under Section 21.142, an employer commits an unlawful employment practice if three things are true. Sexual harassment of an employee occurs. The employer or the employer’s agents or supervisors know or should have known that the conduct was occurring. And they fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
The deadline for this kind of complaint is not the usual one. Section 21.202(a) requires a complaint to the commission under Chapter 21 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.
This matters if you need time to decide what to do. If what happened at work included sexual harassment, you have 300 days. If your complaint is framed as something else, such as retaliation or discrimination on another ground, you may have 180. The way your complaint is framed can change your deadline.
A second clock, for a civil lawsuit, runs at the same time. A civil claim against a property owner may run on two years under Section 16.003, unless a longer period applies, for example the periods in Section 16.0045 for claims arising from sexual assault.
Section 16.0045 is written in terms of the conduct. Courts decide whether it reaches a property owner or employer sued for its own negligence, so the safe planning assumption is the shorter period. Neither clock waits for the other. Our page on how long you have to sue goes through the civil deadlines.
In most cases no statute requires you to disclose to your employer that you were assaulted. Whether your employer’s own leave policy requires a reason is a contract and policy question.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act may provide unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition, including a mental health condition. That applies where both your employer and you meet its coverage requirements. It is a federal law, it is not specific to crime victims, and its eligibility thresholds exclude many workers.
It may, because a civil lawsuit is a public filing. Your employer can be subpoenaed for employment and earnings records where lost wages are claimed.
Lost wages are recoverable, and past and future lost earning capacity are real damages in a civil case. Claiming them makes your work history and your earnings records discoverable by the defense. Whether to claim lost earnings is a decision with a privacy cost, and you should make it deliberately.
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.
Keep your own written record of what happened at work. Write down the dates you missed, your appointments, the reason you gave, and any conversation with a manager. If retaliation becomes the issue later, a note you made at the time is often the strongest evidence.
If your question is simply whether you have to tell your employer, we can usually answer it in a few minutes. You never have to speak to us again. If what happened involved your workplace, we look first at the 300 day deadline and at how your complaint should be framed.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
In most cases, no Texas statute gives 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 right is notification, not protection from discharge.
Texas does protect jurors, through a specific statute. Section 122.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, in one of its two current versions, bars an employer from discharging, threatening, intimidating or coercing an employee for jury service. Texas generally 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 may apply, and it is unusually broad. It defines employer as a person employing one or more employees. 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 Chapter 21 complaints generally carry a 180 day deadline, and the commission must dismiss an untimely complaint.
In most cases 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 you should make it deliberately.