Remote Doesn’t Mean Safe: Sexual Harassment in Fully Distributed Tech Companies

Remote work has changed where employees work, but it has not eliminated workplace sexual harassment. In fully distributed technology companies, employees may never share an office, sit in the same conference room, or encounter one another in person. Yet they may communicate dozens of times each day through Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Discord, email, text messages, and other digital platforms. 

Those communications can create a workplace environment just as real as a physical office. 

A sexual comment made during a Zoom meeting, an inappropriate direct message on Slack, a sexually explicit image sent through Discord, or unwanted advances during a virtual happy hour can all raise serious workplace concerns. For California employees, the fact that the conduct occurred through a screen rather than inside an office does not automatically place it outside workplace harassment protections. 

The California Civil Rights Department explains that California law prohibits harassment based on protected characteristics, and that harassment protections apply even in workplaces with fewer than five employees. California law also protects employees, applicants, interns, volunteers, and contractors from harassment based on protected characteristics. 

What Does Remote Workplace Sexual Harassment Look Like? 

Sexual harassment in a remote workplace may look different from harassment in a traditional office, but the underlying conduct can be similar. 

Instead of an unwanted comment made at someone’s desk, an employee may receive a sexually suggestive text message or witness inappropriate remarks during an in-person meeting.  

Examples of potentially problematic conduct may include: 

• Sending sexually explicit or suggestive messages through Slack or Teams 

• Making sexual comments about an employee’s appearance during video meetings 

• Sending unwanted sexual images, GIFs, memes, or videos through workplace platforms 

• Repeatedly asking a coworker to participate in a romantic or sexual relationship 

• Making sexual jokes during virtual team meetings 

• Using private messages to pressure an employee for dates or sexual attention 

• Making sexually degrading comments in a group channel 

• Inviting employees to virtual events that become sexually charged or inappropriate 

• Making sexual comments while employees are participating in company-sponsored social events online 

• Threatening professional consequences after an employee rejects a sexual advance 

California’s CRD identifies unwanted sexual advances and verbal conduct as examples of conduct that may constitute sexual harassment. The important point is that the medium does not necessarily determine whether conduct is workplace harassment.  

Slack Can Become the Digital Workplace 

For a fully remote technology company, Slack may function as the equivalent of an office building. Employees may use Slack to communicate with supervisors, collaborate with coworkers, receive assignments, and discuss projects. Some companies may also maintain informal channels for hobbies, jokes, celebrations, or after-hours conversations. 

That creates opportunities for both appropriate and inappropriate interactions. 

Slack can also create an important evidentiary record. Messages may contain dates, timestamps, usernames, channel information, attachments, reactions, and surrounding conversations. Screenshots may preserve some of that information. 

For an employee experiencing harassment, preserving relevant communications may be important. A screenshot can help document what was said and provide context for a later complaint or investigation. 

Employees should be careful, however, about altering screenshots, deleting surrounding communications, or publicly distributing private workplace conversations. Preserving an original record and maintaining additional notes separately can help distinguish the actual communication from an employee’s later recollection. 

Zoom and Video Meetings Create Different Risks 

Video conferencing can create additional opportunities for workplace harassment. A manager may make sexual remarks during a team meeting, comment on an employee’s appearance, or ask inappropriate personal questions. 

Harassment may occur in front of an entire team or privately after a meeting ends. For example, a supervisor might behave professionally during a group Zoom meeting but send an employee an inappropriate private message immediately afterward. The meeting and subsequent messages may provide important context about the conduct. 

Virtual meetings can also create additional records. Calendar invitations may establish when a meeting occurred, while chat messages, follow-up emails, or Slack messages may document comments or conduct and provide additional evidence of what happened. 

What About Virtual Happy Hours? 

Technology companies sometimes organize virtual happy hours, game nights, holiday celebrations, or other events designed to recreate the social interaction of an office. Employees may participate from their homes, but the event can still be organized, sponsored, or facilitated by the employer. Thus, a supervisor must not use the relaxed atmosphere of a virtual event as an excuse to behave differently than they would during a formal business meeting. 

The fact that an event is labeled “optional” or “social” does not automatically resolve every legal question. The circumstances matter, including who organized the event, who attended, how it was connected to employment, and what occurred. 

For that reason, employers should not assume that harassment-prevention obligations disappear when employees move from a formal meeting to a virtual social event. 

Does California Law Apply if Employees Never Meet in Person? 

The answer can be yes. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission specifically recognizes that unlawful harassment can occur in a virtual workplace. Its employee guidance addresses the situation of a remote employee who interacts online with a harassing coworker and states that employees are protected even when they do not work in a physical office. 

California’s FEHA similarly prohibits harassment based on protected characteristics. The CRD explains that harassment is prohibited in all workplaces, including workplaces with fewer than five employees. 

This does not mean that every inappropriate Slack message or awkward Zoom interaction automatically constitutes unlawful sexual harassment. Both federal and California law recognize distinctions between offensive conduct that is unlawful and conduct that, while inappropriate, may not meet the legal standard for harassment. 

The nature of the conduct, its frequency, its severity, the relationship between the people involved, whether a supervisor was involved, and the effect of the conduct can all be relevant. 

Employer Responsibilities Do Not Disappear When Everyone Works Remotely 

A fully distributed workforce can make preventing harassment more complicated, but remote work does not eliminate an employer’s responsibility to maintain an appropriate workplace. 

California law requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent and correct harassment. The CRD’s 2025 harassment-prevention guidance explains that employers must maintain a written harassment, discrimination, and retaliation prevention policy and that the policy should include procedures for responding to and investigating complaints, prompt and fair investigations, and remedial action. 

Those responsibilities have practical implications for remote companies. 

An effective remote workplace policy should make clear that anti-harassment rules apply to digital communications. Employees should know how to report harassment occurring through Slack, Zoom, Teams, Discord, email, or other work-related platforms. 

Reporting mechanisms should also account for the realities of remote work. An employee should not be required to confront a supervisor directly when that supervisor is the alleged harasser. California’s required harassment policy framework includes complaint mechanisms that do not require an employee to complain directly to their immediate supervisor. 

Employers should also consider how they preserve and investigate electronic evidence. 

A remote harassment investigation may involve reviewing Slack messages, email records, meeting invitations, video-conference chats, screenshots, direct messages, company documents, and other electronic information. Witnesses may also be located in different cities, states, or countries. 

An investigation therefore may look different from a traditional office investigation, but it still needs to be fair, thorough, and appropriately responsive. 

What Should an Employee Do After Experiencing Remote Harassment? 

Employees experiencing sexual harassment in a remote workplace may want to take practical steps to preserve information and protect themselves. 

1. Preserve relevant communications: Save screenshots of important Slack messages, emails, direct messages, and other communications. Where possible, preserve enough surrounding information to provide context. 

1. Maintain a factual record: Record dates, times, participants, what was said or done, and whether anyone else may have witnessed the conduct. 

1. Identify potential witnesses: Someone who participated in a Zoom meeting or was included in a Slack channel may have information that later becomes relevant. 

1. Review the employer’s harassment policy: Remote companies should provide employees with a method for reporting concerns, and employees may have multiple options for making a complaint. 

1. Preserve evidence of the report itself: Keep copies of emails or messages sent to HR or management and any responses received. 

1. Consider obtaining legal advice: Particularly when the alleged harasser is a supervisor, the conduct is repeated or severe, the employee fears retaliation, or the employer’s response appears inadequate. 

Remote Work Changes the Setting, Not the Importance of Workplace Protections 

The modern workplace may exist partly, or entirely, on a screen. The fact that employees work from home does not necessarily make inappropriate conduct less significant. 

In some respects, digital workplaces can create additional evidence. Messages may be preserved in writing. Meeting invitations can establish timelines. Screenshots can capture communications that an employee might otherwise have difficulty recalling months later. 

For employers, policies should address digital communications, reporting channels should be accessible to distributed employees, and investigations should account for the electronic records that make up the modern workplace. 

For California employees experiencing remote workplace sexual harassment, the absence of a physical office does not mean there is no legal protection. If conduct occurring through a digital platform has made you uncomfortable or raised concerns about sexual harassment, consider preserving relevant evidence, documenting what happened, reporting the conduct through an appropriate channel, and speaking with a qualified California employment attorney about your circumstances. 

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