The New York harassment statute of limitations runs anywhere from one to five years, depending on whether the case is criminal or civil and how the conduct is classified. Petty criminal harassment must be charged within a year; more serious criminal offenses give prosecutors up to five. On the civil side, intentional-conduct lawsuits carry a one-year deadline, while negligence claims and workplace discrimination claims generally allow three years. Claims against a government agency are the shortest of all and can be lost in 90 days. Missing any of these deadlines almost always ends the case.
Criminal Deadlines by Offense Level
New York’s Criminal Procedure Law ties the filing deadline to how the offense is classified, and harassment offenses run from petty violations through a class E felony.
Harassment in the Second Degree
Harassment in the second degree under Penal Law 240.26 is a violation, not a crime.1New York State Senate. New York Penal Code 240.26 – Harassment in the Second Degree It covers conduct like following someone in a public place, engaging in alarming behavior with no legitimate purpose, or making repeated annoying phone calls. Prosecutors have one year from the incident to file an accusatory instrument.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation After that, the case is dead.
Misdemeanor Harassment Charges
Harassment in the first degree under Penal Law 240.25 is a class B misdemeanor and applies to conduct like intentionally following someone and making a credible physical threat.3New York State Senate. New York Penal Code 240.25 – Harassment in the First Degree Aggravated harassment in the second degree under Penal Law 240.30 is a class A misdemeanor and covers threats to harm someone or their family, and conduct targeting a person because of race, religion, or another protected characteristic.4New York State Senate. New York Penal Code 240.30 – Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree
For both misdemeanor-level offenses, prosecutors have two years from the date of the incident to bring charges.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation
Felony Harassment
Aggravated harassment in the first degree under Penal Law 240.31 is a class E felony. It applies when someone damages a place of worship, cemetery, school, or community center with a swastika, noose, or similar symbol, or sets a cross on fire on someone else’s property with intent to harass.5New York State Senate. New York Penal Code 240.31 – Aggravated Harassment in the First Degree Prosecutors have five years to bring charges.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation
Civil Lawsuit Deadlines
If you want money damages for harassment-related harm, the filing deadline depends on the legal theory behind the claim.
Intentional Torts: One Year
Deliberate conduct like unwanted physical contact, threats, or behavior designed to cause severe emotional distress falls under CPLR 215(3), which covers intentional torts including assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Courts apply a one-year statute of limitations to these claims, measured from the date of the harmful act.6New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 215 – Actions to Be Commenced Within One Year7New York State Unified Court System. Statute of Limitations Timetable One year is a tight window, and it runs whether or not criminal charges are filed.
Negligence: Three Years
When harassment happened because an organization failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it, the claim may sound in negligence rather than intentional harm. Examples include a landlord who ignored repeated complaints about a tenant threatening other residents, or a school that failed to act on reported bullying. Under CPLR 214(5), personal injury claims based on negligence carry a three-year statute of limitations.8New York State Senate. New York Code CVP Article 2 214 – Actions to Be Commenced Within Three Years Proving that a responsible party failed in a duty of care is a different burden from proving someone acted with intent.
Workplace Harassment Deadlines
Workplace harassment claims run on their own timelines under specialized anti-discrimination statutes, and those deadlines are separate from the general civil rules above.
New York State Human Rights Law
The New York State Human Rights Law, found in Executive Law 296 and 297, prohibits workplace harassment based on protected characteristics like race, sex, disability, and religion.9New York State Senate. New York Executive Law 296 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices You can file an administrative complaint with the Division of Human Rights or go directly to court.
Administrative complaints with the Division of Human Rights must be filed within three years of the discriminatory act.10New York State Senate. New York Executive Law 297 – Procedure That three-year window applies to all forms of discrimination and harassment, not just sexual harassment. A lawsuit filed directly in court under the state law also carries a three-year deadline.
New York City Human Rights Law
If the harassment happened in New York City, the NYC Human Rights Law is broader than state or federal law and uses a lower threshold for what counts as harassment. The deadline to file a civil lawsuit under the NYCHRL is three years. Administrative complaints with the NYC Commission on Human Rights generally must be filed within one year, though gender-based harassment complaints get a three-year window.
Federal EEOC Charges
You can also file a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Title VII. Because New York has its own anti-discrimination agency, the EEOC deadline is extended from 180 to 300 calendar days from the last incident of harassment.11U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge The EEOC will look at the full history of harassment when investigating a charge, including incidents older than 300 days. Federal employees face a much tighter deadline and must contact their agency’s EEO counselor within 45 days.
If you miss the administrative deadline but remain within the three-year court window, you lose access to the state agency’s investigative process, but you can still bring a lawsuit.
Claims Against Government Agencies
If the harasser was a government employee acting in an official capacity, or if a government agency’s negligence allowed the harassment to occur, the deadlines shrink dramatically. New York requires a notice of claim before any lawsuit against a public corporation, including the state, a city, a county, a town, a village, a school district, or a fire district.
Under General Municipal Law 50-e, the notice of claim must be served within 90 days of the incident.12New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law 50-E – Notice of Claim The notice must be written, notarized, and describe the nature of the claim, when and where it happened, and the dollar amount of damages. After serving the notice, you must wait at least 30 days before filing suit so the agency can investigate. The lawsuit itself must then be filed within one year and 90 days of the incident.13New York State Unified Court System. Filing a Notice of Claim
Courts can grant extensions for late notice of claim filings in limited circumstances, but that extension cannot push the notice beyond one year and 90 days from the incident.12New York State Senate. New York General Municipal Law 50-E – Notice of Claim This is where otherwise strong cases are lost most often. Ninety days passes quickly, and the clock does not wait for a victim to finish recovering.
When the Clock Starts
For a single incident, the statute of limitations starts on the date of the harassment. Identifying that date is straightforward when someone received a threat on a specific day or was assaulted at a known time. It gets more complicated when harassment runs over weeks or months.
Continuing Violations
When harassment is an ongoing pattern rather than a single event, courts may apply the continuing violation doctrine. This allows older incidents to be included in the claim as long as at least one harassing act falls within the filing deadline. Federal courts applying Title VII have recognized this doctrine for hostile work environment claims, and the EEOC will examine all incidents of harassment when investigating a charge, even those outside the filing window.11U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge The most recent incident still has to fall inside the applicable deadline. If the last harassing act was 14 months ago and the filing window is one year, the doctrine cannot save the claim.
Constructive Discharge
When workplace harassment becomes so intolerable that an employee feels forced to resign, courts are split on when the clock starts. The Second Circuit, which covers New York, has held that the statute of limitations begins on the date the employee resigns or gives notice of resignation, treating the constructive discharge itself as the final discriminatory act.
Tolling and Extensions
Certain circumstances pause the statute of limitations, giving prosecutors or victims more time than the standard deadlines suggest.
Criminal Tolling
If a defendant leaves New York after committing a harassment offense, the time spent outside the state does not count toward the statute of limitations. Under CPL 30.10(4)(a), any period during which the defendant was continuously outside New York, or their whereabouts were continuously unknown despite reasonable efforts to find them, is excluded.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 – Timeliness of Prosecutions; Periods of Limitation This tolling cannot extend the deadline by more than five years beyond the standard period.
Civil Tolling
On the civil side, CPLR 204 pauses the statute of limitations during any period when a court order or statutory prohibition prevents the plaintiff from filing suit.14New York State Senate. New York Code CVP Article 2 204 – Stay of Commencement of Action Additional provisions toll the clock when the plaintiff is a minor or legally incapacitated, and when the defendant is out of state and cannot be served. These rules can meaningfully extend the filing window, particularly for young victims.
Deadlines at a Glance
- Harassment in the second degree (violation): one year to prosecute.
- Harassment in the first degree or aggravated harassment in the second degree (misdemeanor): two years to prosecute.
- Aggravated harassment in the first degree (felony): five years to prosecute.
- Intentional tort civil claim (assault, battery, IIED): one year to file.
- Negligence civil claim: three years to file.
- State or city human rights lawsuit in court: three years to file.
- Division of Human Rights administrative complaint: three years to file.
- EEOC charge: 300 days to file.
- Claim against a government entity: notice of claim within 90 days; lawsuit within one year and 90 days.
Each of these deadlines runs from the date of the last harassing act unless tolling applies. Once a deadline passes, the claim is barred and no court will hear it, regardless of the evidence.