South Dakota Workplace Harassment Laws: Any Employer, 180 Days

South Dakota law reaches workplace harassment through SDCL 20-13-10, the employment section of the Human Relations Act of 1972, which makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice to "accord adverse or unequal treatment to any person, employee, or intern" in "any term or condition of employment" because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin. The statute never uses the word harassment, but the state Division of Human Rights treats harassment on those eight bases as prohibited, and the Act covers every employer in the state regardless of size.

Age is not on the state list. Charges go to the Division of Human Rights within 180 days. For how other states compare, see workplace harassment laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers South Dakota state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors and coworkers under the Human Relations Act of 1972, SDCL chapter 20-13 (chiefly 20-13-1, 20-13-1.1, 20-13-10, 20-13-26, 20-13-31 and 20-13-35.1), with guidance from the Department of Labor and Regulation's Division of Human Rights. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full charge and lawsuit procedure (see South Dakota wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, or federal-employee procedure.

South Dakota harassment rules at a glance

What South Dakota law prohibits

Section 20-13-10 is the controlling employment provision:

"It is an unfair or discriminatory practice for any person, because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability, or national origin, to fail or refuse to hire, to discharge an employee, or to accord adverse or unequal treatment to any person, employee, or intern with respect to application, hiring, training, apprenticeship, tenure, promotion, upgrading, compensation, layoff, or any term or condition of employment." (SDCL 20-13-10)

Harassment is not a word the chapter uses, and the chapter contains no definition of harassment or hostile work environment. A harassment complaint rests on the "adverse or unequal treatment" and "any term or condition of employment" language above.

How the Division of Human Rights describes harassment

The Department of Labor and Regulation's Division of Human Rights, which takes charges under the Act, states in its sexual harassment publication that "the South Dakota Human Relations Act prohibits harassment on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, creed, ancestry, disability or national origin." The same publication defines sexual harassment this way:

"Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment." (Division of Human Rights, Sexual Harassment publication)

The first two parts describe what is often called quid pro quo harassment; the third describes a hostile working environment. That definition is agency guidance, not statutory text.

Which South Dakota employers are covered

The Act has no employee-count threshold. Section 20-13-1(7) defines an employer as "any person within the State of South Dakota who hires or employs any employee, and any person wherever situated who hires or employs any employee whose services are to be partially or wholly performed in the State of South Dakota."

• Size: an employer with one employee is inside that definition, and the same definition governs harassment and every other form of discrimination under the chapter.
• Government employers: "person" in 20-13-1(12) includes "public bodies, public corporations, and the State of South Dakota, and all political subdivisions and agencies thereof."
• Out-of-state employers: covered for an employee whose services are performed partly or wholly in South Dakota.

Federal law draws the line differently: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 defines an employer as one with "fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year" (42 U.S.C. 2000e(b)), so a South Dakota employer below that size is outside Title VII but still covered by the state Act.

Who is protected: employees and interns

Section 20-13-1(6) defines an employee as "any person who performs services for any employer for compensation, whether in the form of wages, salary, commission, or otherwise." Since 2020 (SL 2020, ch 70), 20-13-10 also protects interns, and 20-13-1(10) defines an intern as "a student or trainee who works, sometimes without pay, at an organization, industry, trade, or occupation in order to gain work experience or earn academic credit."

Protected traits under the Human Relations Act

Section 20-13-10 lists eight bases:

• race
• color
• creed
• religion
• sex
• ancestry
• disability
• national origin

The Commission of Human Rights' rules on sex discrimination also require that written or unwritten employment policies and practices, "except for insurance," be applied to pregnancy and childbirth "on the same terms and conditions as they are applied to other temporary disabilities" (ARSD 20:03:09:12).

The list does not include age, sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. Outside the Act, SDCL 60-2-20 bars an employer from using genetic information to discriminate against employees and lets an aggrieved employee sue in circuit court. Within the chapter, 20-13-10.1 separately bars adverse or unequal treatment because of blindness or partial blindness, with a civil penalty of not more than $1,000. A marriage rule applied to only one sex is sex discrimination under the Commission's rules (ARSD 20:03:09:06).

On age, the Division's guide to making a charge is direct: "Because South Dakota law does not prohibit age discrimination, such a case would automatically be filed only with the EEOC. The 180-day deadline applies." Federal protection for traits outside the state list is covered on the workplace harassment laws hub.

The hostile-environment standard in South Dakota courts

The statute sets no harassment standard; the South Dakota Supreme Court has supplied one. In Charge of Williams v. South Dakota Department of Agriculture, 779 N.W.2d 397 (S.D. 2010), a sexual harassment case brought through the Division, the Court listed the elements a complainant must show:

"(1) she belongs to a protected group, (2) she was subject to unwelcome sexual harassment, (3) the harassment was based on sex, (4) the harassment affected a 'term, condition or privilege' of employment, and (5) the employer knew or should have known of the harassment in question and failed to take proper remedial action." (Williams, 779 N.W.2d 397)

The Court added that whether conduct created a sexually hostile work environment depends on whether that environment "would reasonably be perceived, and is perceived, as hostile or abusive." In upholding the Division's finding of no probable cause, the Court pointed to evidence that the Department of Agriculture "investigated Williams's claims, counseled" the coworker, "and the behavior stopped."

The Division's findings use a statutory measure of their own. Section 20-13-1.1 defines probable cause as "a determination that it is more likely than not that the charging party and members of a class, or both, were discriminated against based on a violation of this chapter," assessed on "evidence that establishes a prima facie case, and if the respondent has provided a viable defense, whether there is evidence of pretext."

Is the employer responsible? Can an individual be liable?

• Coworker harassment: the fifth Williams element asks whether the employer "knew or should have known of the harassment in question and failed to take proper remedial action."
• Supervisor harassment: the Division's publication states that "if the harasser is in a supervisory position and harasses a subordinate, the employers may have liability whether they have actual knowledge of the behavior or not." That is agency guidance; the statute itself has no supervisor-liability rule.
• Individuals: section 20-13-10 applies to "any person," and 20-13-1(12) defines person to include individuals and "agents." Section 20-13-26 separately makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice for any person "to aid, abet, compel, coerce, incite, or induce another person to discriminate." The statute does not say in terms whether a supervisor or coworker who harasses is personally liable under 20-13-10, and Williams did not decide that question.

Retaliation for filing a charge

Section 20-13-26 makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice for any person "to engage in or threaten to engage in any reprisal, economic or otherwise, against any person by reason of the latter's filing a charge, testifying or assisting in the observance and support of the purposes and provisions of this chapter." The same section bars concealing unlawful discrimination. Firings after a complaint, and how they fit with South Dakota's default employment rule, are covered on the South Dakota at-will employment and South Dakota wrongful termination pages.

Deadlines and where to file

The Department of Labor and Regulation's Division of Human Rights takes charges under chapter 20-13.

• State charge, 180 days: "Any charge filed under this chapter shall be filed within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair practice occurred" (SDCL 20-13-31). The chapter has no separate deadline for harassment.
• Dual filing with the EEOC: the Division's charge guide says that if a case falls under both state and federal law, "we will automatically notify the EEOC and your charge will in be dual-filed," and that for a dual-filed charge "your federal deadline is 300 days from the last date of discrimination." For a charge "more than 180 days but less than 300 days old," the Division "can assist you with making your formal charge," but "will transfer the case directly to the EEOC."
• Sioux Falls (local): the city's Human Relations Commission enforces Chapter 98 of the Sioux Falls ordinances, which covers employment, and the EEOC lists it as a fair employment practices agency alongside the state Division (EEOC Minneapolis office; Sioux Falls Human Relations Commission).
• Ongoing harassment (federal): the EEOC states that in harassment cases a charge must be filed "within 180 or 300 days of the last incident of harassment," though it looks at all incidents when investigating (EEOC time limits).
• Going to court: there is no direct lawsuit at the start. "No later than twenty days after the issuance of notice requiring the respondent to answer the charge, the charging party or the respondent may elect to have the claims asserted in the charge decided in a civil action, in lieu of a hearing," and "any civil action shall be filed within one year of such election" (SDCL 20-13-35.1).

The full sequence from charge to hearing or suit is on the South Dakota wrongful termination page. On remedies, a Commission hearing order may include back pay and "compensation incidental to the violation, other than pain and suffering, punitive, or consequential damages" (SDCL 20-13-42), while in an elected civil action a court or jury may award compensatory damages, and the punitive-damages sentence of 20-13-35.1 lists the reprisal clause in 20-13-26 but not 20-13-10. The South Dakota employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Training and written policies

Chapter 20-13 contains no harassment training, written-policy or policy-posting requirement for private employers. The sexual harassment training rules South Dakota law does contain are professional rules for lawyers and judges: under SDCL 16-18-1.1, "each active member of the State Bar of South Dakota shall complete sexual harassment prevention training offered or approved by the State Bar of South Dakota within two years following admission to the practice of law or within two years after the enactment of this rule, and once every three years thereafter," and a member who does not is placed on inactive status. SDCL 16-14-7 sets a similar requirement for judges, at least once every three years.

NDAs, confidentiality and arbitration

Chapter 20-13 contains no provision limiting nondisclosure, confidentiality or arbitration terms in harassment agreements or settlements. Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes: the Speak Out Act makes nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses agreed to before a sexual harassment or sexual assault dispute arises judicially unenforceable where the conduct is alleged to violate federal, tribal or state law, and the Ending Forced Arbitration Act lets the person alleging sexual harassment or sexual assault elect court over a predispute arbitration agreement, both explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

Is workplace bullying illegal in South Dakota?

Chapter 20-13 reaches unequal treatment because of the eight traits listed in 20-13-10 and, under 20-13-10.1, blindness. It contains no provision on general workplace bullying that is not tied to one of those traits, such as hostility aimed at an employee for reasons unrelated to race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

The rules on recording a conversation at work, including one with a harasser, are on the South Dakota workplace recording laws page. Employer monitoring of email, devices and workspaces is covered on the South Dakota employee monitoring laws page.

Recent changes to South Dakota harassment law

• 2010: the South Dakota Supreme Court set out the five-element hostile-environment test in Charge of Williams v. South Dakota Department of Agriculture.
• 2020: SL 2020, ch 70 added interns to the persons protected by 20-13-10 and added the intern definition in 20-13-1.
• 2022: Supreme Court Rules 22-05 (SDCL 16-14-7, judges) and 22-06 (SDCL 16-18-1.1, active State Bar members) required sexual harassment prevention training, effective February 1, 2022.

Related pages

• Workplace harassment laws by state
• South Dakota wrongful termination
• South Dakota at-will employment laws
• South Dakota employee monitoring laws
• South Dakota workplace recording laws

This article provides general legal information about South Dakota workplace harassment law under SDCL chapter 20-13 as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in South Dakota or the South Dakota Division of Human Rights.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is workplace harassment illegal in South Dakota?

SDCL 20-13-10 bars adverse or unequal treatment in any term or condition of employment because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin. The statute does not use the word harassment, but the Division of Human Rights says the Act prohibits harassment on those eight bases. Separate sections cover blindness (SDCL 20-13-10.1) and genetic information (SDCL 60-2-20), and Commission rules treat pregnancy and childbirth under sex (ARSD 20:03:09:12).

Does South Dakota harassment law apply to small employers?

Yes. SDCL 20-13-1(7) defines an employer as any person in South Dakota who hires or employs any employee, with no minimum headcount, and the State and its political subdivisions are included.

How long do I have to file a harassment charge in South Dakota?

A charge with the Division of Human Rights must be filed within 180 days after the alleged practice occurred (SDCL 20-13-31). If the charge is dual-filed with the EEOC, the Division says the federal deadline is 300 days from the last date of discrimination.

Can I sue my employer directly in South Dakota court for harassment?

Not at the start. Under SDCL 20-13-35.1, within 20 days after the notice requiring the employer to answer the charge, either side may elect a civil action in place of a hearing, and the suit must be filed within one year of that election.

Is age discrimination or age harassment covered by South Dakota law?

No. Age is not on the SDCL 20-13-10 list, and the Division of Human Rights says an age case is filed only with the EEOC, where the 180-day deadline applies.

Are interns protected from harassment in South Dakota?

Yes. Since 2020, SDCL 20-13-10 protects any person, employee or intern, and 20-13-1(10) defines an intern as a student or trainee who works, sometimes without pay, to gain work experience or earn academic credit.

Does South Dakota require sexual harassment training for employers?

Chapter 20-13 contains no training requirement for employers. The training rules apply to active State Bar members (SDCL 16-18-1.1) and judges (SDCL 16-14-7), who must complete sexual harassment prevention training once every three years.

Is it illegal to retaliate against someone for filing a harassment charge in South Dakota?

SDCL 20-13-26 makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice to engage in or threaten any reprisal, economic or otherwise, against a person because the person filed a charge, testified or assisted under the chapter.