What Qualifies as Harassment in Texas? Penalties and Felony Stalking

In Texas, harassment is intentional conduct aimed at tormenting, alarming, embarrassing, or distressing another person, and what qualifies as harassment in Texas falls into two separate legal tracks: a criminal offense under Penal Code Section 42.07, and a civil workplace claim when unwelcome behavior tied to a protected characteristic becomes severe or pervasive enough to poison the job.

Conduct the Criminal Statute Covers

Penal Code Section 42.07 lists the specific acts that count as criminal harassment. The behavior itself has to match one of these categories; general unpleasantness is not enough.¹

Starting a conversation and making an obscene comment, request, or proposal.
Threatening bodily injury or a felony against a person, their family, a household member, or their property in a way that would reasonably alarm the recipient.
Telling someone that a person has died or been seriously hurt when you know it is not true.
Calling someone’s phone repeatedly, making anonymous calls, or refusing to hang up after they answer.
Sending repeated texts, emails, or other electronic messages in a way likely to distress the recipient.
Posting repeated messages on a website or social media platform likely to cause emotional distress, unless the posts relate to a matter of public concern.
Monitoring someone’s vehicle or personal property with a tracking app or device, or physically following them, without consent.
Making obscene, intimidating, or threatening calls or electronic messages from a temporary phone number provided by an app.

Letting someone else use your phone or device to commit any of these acts is a separate offense. The tracking and disposable-number provisions are recent additions, reflecting how harassment tactics have shifted with technology.¹

The Intent Requirement

Intent is the dividing line. The statute requires that the person acted with the purpose of harassing, annoying, alarming, abusing, tormenting, or embarrassing someone else. Without that intent, even deeply unpleasant behavior usually falls short of the criminal threshold.¹

Accidentally texting the wrong number, leaving a rude voicemail in a moment of frustration, or posting a negative online review does not satisfy the statute. The prosecution has to prove the defendant specifically intended to harass. The recipient feeling harassed, on its own, is not the test.

Penalties for Criminal Harassment

A standard harassment conviction is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in county jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.¹²

The charge rises to a Class A misdemeanor in three situations:

The defendant has a previous harassment conviction under Section 42.07.
The defendant sent repeated electronic communications or harassing social media posts directed at a child under 18 with the intent that the child commit suicide or seriously injure themselves.
The defendant previously violated a temporary restraining order or injunction issued to stop cyberbullying.

A Class A misdemeanor carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.³ Either level of conviction also creates a permanent criminal record that shows up on background checks for employment, housing, and licensing.

When Harassment Becomes Felony Stalking

If the same type of conduct happens more than once as part of an ongoing course of behavior directed at a specific person, the charge can shift from misdemeanor harassment to felony stalking under Penal Code Section 42.072. Stalking applies when the pattern either places the target in fear of bodily injury or death, or would cause a reasonable person to feel harassed, intimidated, or threatened.⁴

A first stalking offense is a third-degree felony with a sentencing range of two to ten years. A second stalking conviction becomes a second-degree felony, carrying two to twenty years. The jump from repeated texting under the harassment statute to a “course of conduct” under the stalking statute can happen quickly, sometimes within a few days.⁴

Online Harassment of Minors and David’s Law

Texas passed David’s Law in 2017 after San Antonio teenager David Molak died by suicide following cyberbullying. The law amended Penal Code 42.07 to make electronic harassment of a minor with intent that the child harm themselves or attempt suicide a Class A misdemeanor rather than a Class B.⁵¹

On the school side, the law requires districts to adopt cyberbullying policies, set up anonymous reporting systems, and notify parents when their child is identified as a victim or an alleged aggressor. Schools can investigate and discipline students for cyberbullying that happens off campus if it interferes with a student’s educational opportunities or substantially disrupts school operations. Parents sometimes assume a school cannot act on messages sent from a student’s home device; David’s Law says otherwise when the bullying reaches the school environment in a measurable way.⁵

Workplace Harassment Is a Separate, Civil Track

Workplace harassment in Texas is a civil matter, handled as a form of employment discrimination rather than a crime. Two overlapping bodies of law apply: Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, codified as Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code. The Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division handles state-level complaints.

Both laws prohibit unwelcome conduct based on protected characteristics, including race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information. To qualify as unlawful harassment, the conduct must be unwelcome and either severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would consider the work environment intimidating, hostile, or abusive. It also qualifies when enduring the behavior becomes a condition of keeping your job.⁶

A single incident can meet the standard if it is extreme, such as a physical assault or an explicit threat tied to a protected characteristic. More often, the conduct has to form a pattern. Stray remarks, offhand jokes, personality clashes, and critical performance reviews generally do not qualify on their own.

Sexual Harassment Under Senate Bill 45

In 2021, Texas expanded sexual harassment protections. Senate Bill 45 created a specific state cause of action for sexual harassment and applies to every employer with at least one employee, departing from the general TCHRA framework that only covers employers with 15 or more workers for other discrimination claims.⁷

House Bill 21, effective the same day, extended the deadline for filing a sexual harassment complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission from 180 days to 300 days after the alleged harassment. The longer deadline applies only to incidents on or after September 1, 2021. For earlier incidents, the 180-day window still controls. Missing the deadline forfeits the right to pursue the claim through the state administrative process.

Retaliation Protections

Federal and state law prohibit retaliation against anyone who reports harassment or participates in a discrimination investigation. An employer cannot fire, demote, reassign, or otherwise punish you for filing a complaint. Retaliation claims do not require proof that the underlying harassment was unlawful; they only require proof that a reasonable person would be discouraged from reporting discrimination by the employer’s response.⁸

Protective Orders for Victims

Victims of stalking and certain sexual offenses can seek a protective order through the courts under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, regardless of their relationship with the offender. The order can prohibit contact with the victim or their family, bar the offender from approaching the victim’s home or workplace, forbid conduct likely to alarm or torment the victim, and suspend the offender’s license to carry a handgun.⁹

A prosecutor, a parent or guardian of a minor victim, or the victim can file the application. Violating a protective order is itself a separate criminal offense.

For harassment that falls short of stalking or sexual assault, Texas does not offer a general civil harassment restraining order of the type available in some other states. Victims in that situation may need to pursue a temporary restraining order through a civil lawsuit, which typically requires showing an imminent threat of irreparable harm. Talking to a family law or civil litigation attorney early helps clarify which remedy fits the circumstances.

What Does Not Qualify

Context matters as much as content. Under the criminal statute, behavior without the required intent to torment or alarm does not qualify, no matter how unpleasant it felt to the person on the receiving end.¹

In the workplace, ordinary friction does not count. A critical performance review, an offhand comment, or a personality clash will not clear the severe-or-pervasive bar. The law targets discriminatory conduct tied to a protected characteristic, not general rudeness, and even genuinely offensive behavior usually needs to form a pattern before courts treat it as actionable.⁶

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 42.07 – Harassment
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 42.072 – Stalking
5
Texas Legislature. Texas Senate Bill 179 – David’s Law
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Harassment
7
Texas Legislature Online. 87(R) History for SB 45 – Relating to the Prohibition Against Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retaliation – Making It Personal
9
Justia. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Title 1 Chapter 7A – Protective Order