Wisconsin Workplace Harassment Laws: 1-Employee Rule, 300 Days (2026)

Workplace sexual harassment is expressly illegal in Wisconsin: the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act defines sexual harassment (Wis. Stat. § 111.32(13)) and makes "engaging in sexual harassment" a form of sex discrimination (§ 111.36(1)(b)), and it separately bars non-sexual harassment because of an individual's gender (§ 111.36(1)(br)). The Act applies to the state and to any employer "employing at least one individual" (§ 111.32(6)(a)), and its own text sets the test for a hostile work environment: conduct a reasonable person in the employee's position "would consider ... sufficiently severe or pervasive."

Harassment because of race, disability, age, creed or another listed basis has no separate clause; it falls under the general ban on discrimination in "terms, conditions or privileges of employment" (§ 111.322(1)). Complaints go to the Department of Workforce Development's Equal Rights Division within 300 days (§ 111.39(1)). For other states, 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 Wisconsin state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors and coworkers under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, Wis. Stat. §§ 111.31 to 111.395, with a note on harassment restraining orders under § 813.125. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full complaint and hearing procedure (see Wisconsin wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, local ordinances, or federal-employee procedure.

Wisconsin harassment rules at a glance

What Wisconsin law prohibits

Wisconsin is one of the states whose fair employment statute names sexual harassment directly. Discrimination because of sex under § 111.36(1) includes:

"(b) Engaging in sexual harassment; or implicitly or explicitly making or permitting acquiescence in or submission to sexual harassment a term or condition of employment; ... or permitting sexual harassment to have the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an employee's work performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment." (Wis. Stat. § 111.36(1)(b))

The omitted middle of paragraph (b) addresses using an individual's submission to or rejection of sexual harassment as a basis for employment decisions. So paragraph (b) covers both a quid pro quo (submission as a term or condition of the job) and a hostile work environment.

How the Act defines sexual harassment

"'Sexual harassment' means unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome requests for sexual favors, unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature or unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. 'Sexual harassment' includes conduct directed by a person at another person of the same or opposite gender." (Wis. Stat. § 111.32(13))

The definition continues that unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature "includes but is not limited to the deliberate, repeated making of unsolicited gestures or comments of a sexual nature; the deliberate, repeated display of offensive sexually graphic materials which is not necessary for business purposes; or deliberate verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, whether or not repeated, that is sufficiently severe to interfere substantially with an employee's work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment."

Gender harassment that is not sexual

Section 111.36(1)(br) reaches "harassment that consists of unwelcome verbal or physical conduct directed at another individual because of that individual's gender, other than the conduct described in par. (b), and that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment or has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with that individual's work performance."

Harassment on other protected bases

For race, disability, creed, age and the Act's other bases, there is no clause that uses the word harassment. Section 111.321 bars an employer, labor organization, employment agency, licensing agency "or other person" from employment discrimination on a listed basis, and § 111.322(1) defines that discrimination to include discriminating against an individual "in promotion, compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment." The Equal Rights Division's discrimination page states: "You may not be harassed in the workplace based on a protected status."

Which Wisconsin employers are covered

"'Employer' means the state and each agency of the state and, except as provided in par. (b), any other person engaging in any activity, enterprise or business employing at least one individual." (Wis. Stat. § 111.32(6)(a))

Paragraph (b) excludes social clubs and fraternal societies for member-only jobs: "'Employer' does not include a social club or fraternal society under ch. 188 with respect to a particular job for which the club or society seeks to employ or employs a member, if the particular job is advertised only within the membership." Section 111.32(5) also excludes from the definition of "employee" an individual employed by his or her parent, spouse or child, and "any individual excluded under s. 452.38." Separately, § 111.3205 provides that a franchisor is not considered the employer of a franchisee or of a franchisee's employees unless the franchisor agreed in writing to assume that role or the department found it exercised a type or degree of control not customarily exercised by a franchisor to protect its trademarks and brand.

The one-employee threshold is the same for harassment and every other claim under the Act. Federal law draws the line much higher: Title VII applies to an employer that "has 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)).

Contractors, interns and non-employees

The Act defines "employee" only by its exclusions and contains no clause extending its protection to independent contractors, interns or volunteers. On who may do the harassing, the Equal Rights Division's guidance says: "Offenders can be supervisors, co-workers, or non-employees such as vendors, customers, or suppliers." That guidance describes who may harass an employee; it does not add a statutory class of protected non-employees.

Protected bases in Wisconsin

Section 111.321 lists age, race, creed, color, disability, marital status, sex, national origin, ancestry, arrest record, conviction record, military service, use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer's premises during nonworking hours, and "declining to attend a meeting or to participate in any communication about religious matters or political matters." Other sections fill in the list:

• Age: "The prohibition against employment discrimination on the basis of age applies only to discrimination against an individual who is age 40 or over" (§ 111.33(1)).
• Sexual orientation: protected through § 111.36(1)(d), which bars discrimination "in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual's sexual orientation." Section 111.32(13m) defines it as "having a preference for heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, having a history of such a preference or being identified with such a preference."
• Pregnancy: treated as sex discrimination under § 111.36(1)(c).
• Genetic testing and honesty testing: governed by separate sections of the subchapter.

Several of these bases, including arrest and conviction record, marital status, military service, lawful-product use and declining to attend religious or political meetings, are not in Title VII's list. Gender identity is not named in the Act's list of protected bases.

The legal standard for a hostile work environment

Wisconsin writes the severe-or-pervasive test into the statute. For both sexual harassment and gender harassment, § 111.36(1)(b) and (br) state that substantial interference with work performance or an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment:

"is established when the conduct is such that a reasonable person under the same circumstances as the employee would consider the conduct sufficiently severe or pervasive to interfere substantially with the person's work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment." (Wis. Stat. § 111.36(1)(b), (br))

The test is "severe or pervasive," not both. And the definition in § 111.32(13) allows deliberate conduct of a sexual nature to qualify "whether or not repeated" if it is sufficiently severe.

The Equal Rights Division's guidance describes harassment in similar terms: "The behavior must be more than a few isolated incidents or casual comments. It involves a pattern of abusive and degrading conduct directed against a protected class member that is sufficient to interfere with their work or create an offensive and hostile work environment." That wording is agency guidance, not statute text.

Employer responsibility and the individual harasser

For sexual harassment claims under § 111.36(1)(b), the Act sets a presumption:

"an employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency is presumed liable for an act of sexual harassment by that employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency or by any of its employees or members, if the act occurs while the complaining employee is at his or her place of employment or is performing duties relating to his or her employment, if the complaining employee informs the employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency of the act, and if the employer, labor organization, employment agency or licensing agency fails to take appropriate action within a reasonable time." (Wis. Stat. § 111.36(3))

All of those conditions are joined by "and": the act occurs at work or during work duties, the employee informs the employer, and the employer fails to take appropriate action within a reasonable time. The presumption draws no separate line between supervisors and coworkers, and by its terms it applies to sexual harassment claims under paragraph (b), not to gender harassment under paragraph (br).

On personal exposure, §§ 111.321 and 111.36(1) direct their prohibitions at an employer and at any "other person." Section 111.39(4)(c) adds that if the examiner awards any payment to an employee "because of a violation of s. 111.321 by an individual employed by the employer," the employer of that individual "is liable for the payment." The statute does not say in terms whether an individual employee who harasses can be ordered to pay.

Retaliation for complaining

Section 111.322(3) makes it discrimination "To discharge or otherwise discriminate against any individual because he or she has opposed any discriminatory practice under this subchapter or because he or she has made a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this subchapter." How a firing after a complaint fits with Wisconsin's default employment rule is covered on the Wisconsin at-will employment page.

Deadlines and where to file

The Equal Rights Division of the Department of Workforce Development takes employment discrimination complaints, including harassment.

• Agency deadline: the department "may receive and investigate a complaint charging discrimination ... if the complaint is filed with the department no more than 300 days after the alleged discrimination ... occurred" (§ 111.39(1)). The Act sets no separate deadline for harassment. Under the department's rules, "'Filing' means the physical receipt of a document" (Wis. Admin. Code DWD 218.02(6)), so a mailed complaint counts when the department receives it; a complaint deferred to the department by a federal or local agency with which it has a worksharing agreement is considered filed when that agency received it (DWD 218.03(5)).
• No probable cause: "Within 30 days after the date of an initial determination finding that there is no probable cause, a complainant may file a written request for a hearing on the issue of probable cause" (Wis. Admin. Code DWD 218.08(1)). If no timely request is filed, the dismissal becomes the department's final determination (DWD 218.08(2)).
• Hearing and review: after a hearing, an examiner issues findings and an order; if no petition for review by the Labor and Industry Review Commission is filed within 21 days from the date a copy of the examiner's findings and order is mailed to the respondent's last-known address, they become final for enforcement (§ 111.39(5)(b)). Commission findings and orders "are subject to review under ch. 227" (§ 111.395).
• Court: the subchapter contains no section creating a civil action in court for a violation of the Act; judicial review of the commission's order is the court step it provides.
• Federal charge: the EEOC states that its "180 calendar day filing deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis." The EEOC's Chicago District Office lists the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division (Madison and Milwaukee) as a Fair Employment Practice Agency, and the EEOC Milwaukee office's timeliness guidance extends the 180-day deadline to 300 days "if there is a state or local anti-discrimination law that covers the location of the alleged harm and the basis for the charge."

The steps from complaint to hearing are on the Wisconsin wrongful termination page, which also covers remedies, including the rule that back pay "may not accrue from a date more than 2 years prior to the filing of a complaint" (§ 111.39(4)(c)). The Wisconsin employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Training, policies and posters

Subchapter II of chapter 111 contains no requirement that private employers train employees on harassment or adopt a written harassment policy. The Equal Rights Division states that every employer, employment agency, labor organization and licensing agency subject to the Act "shall post in a conspicuous place upon its premises, a poster prepared and made available by the department, relating to the provisions of the act."

NDAs, confidentiality and arbitration

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act contains no provision limiting nondisclosure, confidentiality or nondisparagement terms in harassment agreements or settlements; its confidentiality language concerns the agency's handling of complaints. Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes: the Speak Out Act makes nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses agreed to before a sexual harassment 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 elect court over a predispute arbitration agreement; the workplace harassment laws hub explains both.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Wisconsin?

The Act reaches harassment tied to a protected basis. The Equal Rights Division puts it directly: "State law does not protect workers from general workplace harassment or bullying unconnected with some characteristic under the law."

Harassment restraining orders

Separately from the Fair Employment Act, a court may issue a harassment restraining order or injunction under § 813.125. For that section, "harassment" includes striking, shoving, kicking or other physical contact, sexual assault or stalking, or attempts or threats to do the same, and "Engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts which harass or intimidate another person and which serve no legitimate purpose" (§ 813.125(1)(am)4.). It is a general civil remedy, not a workplace-specific one.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

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

Related pages

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

This article provides general legal information about Wisconsin workplace harassment law under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, Wis. Stat. §§ 111.31 to 111.395, as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Wisconsin or the Equal Rights Division of the Department of Workforce Development.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is sexual harassment illegal in Wisconsin?

Yes. Wis. Stat. § 111.36(1)(b) makes engaging in sexual harassment, making submission to it a term or condition of employment, or permitting it to substantially interfere with work or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment a form of sex discrimination.

Does Wisconsin harassment law apply to small employers?

Yes. The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act covers the state and any person employing at least one individual (§ 111.32(6)(a)). Social clubs and fraternal societies filling member-only jobs are excluded (§ 111.32(6)(b)), and a franchisor generally is not the employer of a franchisee's employees unless it agreed in writing or the department found it exercised non-customary control (§ 111.3205). The same rule applies to harassment and other discrimination claims.

What counts as a hostile work environment in Wisconsin?

For sexual and gender harassment, § 111.36(1)(b) and (br) say it is established when a reasonable person under the same circumstances as the employee would consider the conduct sufficiently severe or pervasive to interfere substantially with work performance or to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

How long do you have to file a harassment complaint in Wisconsin?

The Equal Rights Division may investigate a complaint filed no more than 300 days after the alleged discrimination occurred (§ 111.39(1)). Under the department's rules, filing means the physical receipt of a document (Wis. Admin. Code DWD 218.02(6)). The Act sets no separate deadline for harassment.

Does a Wisconsin harassment claim go to court?

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act sets out an administrative process: a complaint to the Equal Rights Division, an examiner hearing, review by the Labor and Industry Review Commission, and judicial review under ch. 227 (§§ 111.39, 111.395). It contains no section creating a lawsuit in court for a violation of the Act.

Is my employer responsible for a coworker's sexual harassment in Wisconsin?

Under § 111.36(3), an employer is presumed liable for sexual harassment by the employer or any of its employees when the act occurs at work or during work duties, the employee informs the employer, and the employer fails to take appropriate action within a reasonable time.

Does Wisconsin require harassment training?

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act contains no harassment training or written-policy requirement for private employers. Employers subject to the Act must post the Department of Workforce Development's poster about the Act, according to the Equal Rights Division.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Wisconsin?

The Act reaches harassment tied to a protected basis such as sex, race or disability. The Equal Rights Division states that state law does not protect workers from general workplace harassment or bullying unconnected with some characteristic under the law.