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Being harassed at work is hard enough. When the harassment comes from inside a county office or a police department, and you’re the one who ends up pushed out, it can feel like the whole government is lined up against you.
You can sue a government employer for sexual harassment or wrongful termination in South Carolina. Federal and state anti-discrimination laws cover counties, cities and police departments the same way they cover private companies, and punishing you for reporting harassment is illegal too. The deadlines are short, though, and suing a public body comes with its own rules. Because those rules start the clock on the day of the harassment or firing, a dedicated Myrtle Beach sexual harassment lawyer will lock in your filing date before anything else.
Axelrod & Associates, P.A. represents public employees in civil rights claims, including two former Horry County employees suing the county today. Our attorneys can tell you which claims you have and how much time is left to file them.
Key Takeaways
- Federal and state anti-discrimination laws cover state agencies, counties, cities and police departments with 15 or more employees.
- You generally have 180 days to file with the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission (SCHAC) and up to 300 days to file with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
- Reporting harassment is protected activity, and a transfer, investigation or forced resignation after a complaint can support a separate retaliation claim.
- Negligence claims against a county or city run through a separate state law that caps damages at $300,000 per person and bars punitive damages.
- Resigning under pressure doesn’t end your claim, but signing a release can.
Axelrod & Associates offers a free consultation to public employees who were harassed, pushed out or punished for speaking up, and the first meeting can confirm your filing deadline.
Can You Sue a Government Employer for Sexual Harassment in South Carolina?
Yes. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and its definition of who can be sued expressly includes governments, government agencies and political subdivisions.
That means a county administrator’s office, a city police department and a state agency all answer to the same harassment rules a private company does. According to the EEOC, an employer is automatically liable when a supervisor’s harassment ends in a firing, demotion or similar job action. South Carolina law adds a matching state claim, and which one you file first comes down to the calendar.
How to File a Sexual Harassment Claim Against a Public Employer
A sexual harassment claim against a public employer starts with an agency charge instead of a lawsuit, and three deadlines control it:
- File with the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission within 180 days of the harassment or firing, online, by mail or at its Columbia office on Sumter Street.
- If 180 days have passed, file with the EEOC by day 300, since SCHAC dual-files every charge it takes with the federal agency.
- After you receive a Notice of Right to Sue, file your lawsuit within 90 days.
Each date is a hard cutoff. Count from the last act of harassment or the day you lost your job, and if you’re close to day 180, a public employee sexual harassment attorney can file the intake questionnaire first and gather documents after.
Case Spotlight: Former Horry County Employees Sue the County
Our firm represents two former Horry County employees in pending lawsuits that show how these claims play out against a public employer.
In November 2025, a former Horry County Police Department investigator and the county’s former public information director resigned after an internal affairs investigation, and the firm announced it would represent both women. Attorney Jonny McCoy said the suits would allege assault, defamation, wrongful termination, negligent supervision and sexual harassment. The first joint lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, which allowed it to be filed again, and in July 2026 each woman filed her own suit against the county and several county leaders.
The complaints allege a pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation that continued until one of the women was forced to resign on November 6, 2025. They also claim the internal investigation of the other woman was driven in part by a desire to punish her for raising concerns about a senior county official. None of these claims has been decided, and the cases are ongoing.
If your own complaint at work was followed by an investigation, a transfer or pressure to quit, Axelrod & Associates can review that timeline with you in a free consultation.
Retaliation and Whistleblower Protections for Public Employees
Public employees in South Carolina have two separate protections against being punished for speaking up, and they work very differently.
Retaliation for reporting harassment
Complaining to a supervisor about harassment is protected activity under federal law, and so is taking part in someone else’s complaint. The EEOC lists a move to a worse position, extra scrutiny of your work and false rumors as possible retaliation. A retaliation claim can succeed even when the harassment claim behind it doesn’t.
The South Carolina Whistleblower Act
The state Whistleblower Act protects county, city and state employees who report fraud, waste or intentional violations of law, as long as the report is made within 180 days of learning about the wrongdoing. Before suing, you have to finish your employer’s grievance process, and under S.C. Code § 8-27-30, recovery is limited to reinstatement, lost wages, up to $15,000 in actual damages and capped attorney’s fees. That ceiling is low, which is why harassment victims usually build their case around anti-discrimination law first.
What Changes When You Sue a County or City
Claims against a county or city for harm beyond the job itself, like negligent supervision of a harasser, and that law sets limits a private lawsuit doesn’t have. Under S.C. Code § 15-78-120, recovery is capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence, punitive damages aren’t allowed, and you generally have two years to file. Federal law also bars punitive damages against government employers in discrimination cases, so the value of a claim against a public body rests on lost wages, harm to your career and emotional distress.
Being Forced to Resign Doesn’t End Your Claim
A resignation you were pushed into can count as a firing. When conditions get so bad that a reasonable person would quit, courts call it constructive discharge, and you can recover as if you’d been terminated. The bigger risk is paperwork. Public employers sometimes offer a quiet exit with a release, and signing it can give up every claim in this article, so have a public employee sexual harassment attorney read it before you sign.
Axelrod & Associates handles harassment and retaliation claims against public employers across Horry County and the Grand Strand, and a free consultation will tell you exactly where your deadlines stand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue the supervisor who harassed me personally?
Not under federal discrimination law, which holds the employer responsible instead of individual supervisors. State law is different, and it lets you name an official personally when the conduct involved actual malice or intent to harm. Claims like assault or defamation are often where an individual defendant comes in, so bring every text and message to your first meeting.
How much is a sexual harassment case against a government employer worth?
It depends on your lost pay and the harm you suffered, but federal law caps emotional distress and other compensatory damages based on employer size. Those caps run from $50,000 for employers with 15 to 100 employees up to $300,000 for employers with more than 500, and back pay isn’t counted against them. A lawyer can estimate your lost wages from pay records at the first meeting.
Do I have to report harassment internally before filing a charge?
You don’t have to, but it usually helps. The EEOC says an employer can defend a hostile work environment claim by showing the employee unreasonably failed to use its complaint process. Report in writing if you can and keep a copy for yourself.
What evidence should I save if I think I’m being pushed out?
Save anything that shows what happened and when. Texts, emails, performance reviews and any notice of an internal investigation can prove retaliation through timing, which is often the heart of these claims. Ask a lawyer before you copy any work files, since some employers treat that as a policy violation.
Axelrod & Associates, P.A.: Your Myrtle Beach Civil Rights Law Firm
Reporting harassment at a public job shouldn’t cost you the job, and when it does, the law gives you a way to answer back. The strongest cases are built in the first few weeks, while the 180-day window is still open and the emails and texts are still where you left them. We line up the timeline, file the agency charge, and look at every claim the facts support, from retaliation to the county’s own negligence (those claims run on a separate clock), and we keep you posted on every deadline along the way. Contact our firm today and tell us what happened.
