How Megan Thomas turned her own experience into a sexual harassment law firm

Workplace sexual harassment remains one of the most underreported and mishandled issues in American business. For many employees, knowing where to turn is just as difficult as deciding to speak up in the first place.

Joining us on today’s episode of The Female Founder is Megan Thomas, Sexual Harassment Attorney and Founder of Megan Thomas Law, PLLC. Thomas built her New York-based firm around a simple concept where no employee should have to face a hostile work environment without someone in their corner.

Built from personal experience

For Thomas, this work is personal. She experienced sexual harassment herself, as a law student and at various points in her early career.

"I really wanted to build the firm that I would have needed when I was in those situations." 

She faced a choice many women in male-dominated fields face. Speak up and deal with the fallout, or stay silent. Sometimes Thomas spoke up; other times, she stayed quiet, but either way, she had no one to guide her through it. That experience, she says, became the foundation of her law practice.

Overcoming challenges

Thomas says she faced multiple challenges as she worked to build her practice. She faced pushback from fellow attorneys who didn’t think there were enough cases to support a specialized practice. But Thomas says that’s far from the case.

She also voices that she faced a tough decision as the primary breadwinner in her family when it came to leaving her job to start her own practice. 

“I thought to myself, am I being selfish by stopping my other job and starting a practice? What if I fail?” Thomas said.

In the end, the risk was worth it. Thomas says her firm has grown faster than she expected and is constantly hiring staff to keep up with demand.

Why cases go unreported

Thomas says that too often sexual harassment claims go unreported. One reason, she says, is that employees often do not realize what constitutes harassment legally. Since the Me Too Movement, Thomas notes how the law has changed substantially, and she wants both workers and employers to understand what that means.

In New York, the previous legal standard required harassment to be severe or pervasive. Thomas says that high bar left many women with no legal recourse even as they left hostile workplaces. The current standard is lower, and more conduct now qualifies as harassment.

New York, California, and Massachusetts are among the most protective states. Federal law, specifically Title VII, provides a baseline for states with weaker statutes. Rules also vary by company size, and Thomas notes the landscape is highly case-specific. Her advice is to familiarize yourself with your state’s laws and consult an attorney specializing in this area before taking any action.

What business owners need to know

For small business owners, Thomas says good intentions are not enough. Many employers she encounters are not the ones committing harassment. The problem is that they are not doing enough to stop it.

"What I'm seeing all the time is sometimes the owner of the business isn't bad... They're not the ones committing the harassment. But they're turning a blind eye and they're not being proactive enough." 

Her first recommendation is to rethink the structure of sexual harassment training. A single annual session is not enough. Thomas says the conversation needs to happen regularly, with specific, real-world examples that help employees recognize problematic behavior before it escalates.

Being proactive also means speaking up in the moment. If a manager hears an inappropriate comment about a colleague’s appearance, Thomas says that needs to be addressed directly and promptly.

The goal is a workplace culture where employees feel safe enough to raise concerns early, before situations become legal matters.

The airport ad that landed Thomas in court

When a New York airport authority rejected her billboard ad, Thomas took them to court and won. She had heard repeatedly from clients who were harassed on work trips and wanted women in those moments to know help was available. She approached an airport, worked with their marketing team, and submitted her ad. It read: “When HR called it harmless flirting, we called it Exhibit A.”

Then airport officials rejected the ad, calling it false, misleading and potentially offensive to local politicians and a sensitive subject for children. Thomas thought they were joking.

“I was told that it could be intimidating to men. And so it was rejected. I actually thought it was a joke. I was like, Oh, good one. You’re going to say that to the sexual harassment attorney. It wasn’t a joke,” Thomas said.

She sued on First Amendment grounds and won. The result was two large billboard placements at the airport.

“The first time I saw it, I happened to be with my kids on a vacation. That was a pretty cool moment,” Thomas said.

What to do if you’re the victim of harassment

For anyone currently experiencing workplace harassment, Thomas says the first step is documentation. Write things down, take screenshots, and secure any evidence before it disappears or before an employer has reason to act.

“Start keeping a journal. Keep screenshots of any problematic messages,” Thomas said.

The next step is finding an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment, before going to HR.

“I don’t care if the HR person down the hall is the nicest person you know. They don’t work for you,” Thomas said.

For employers, Thomas says training needs to happen regularly.

“What I would recommend is, again, making sure that sexual harassment training is not a one-day affair. We’re talking about this regularly. We’re empowering women to speak up,” Thomas said.

And when even the slightest hint of a problem surfaces, leadership has to follow up, take all appropriate action, and document it.

Megan Thomas can be reached at mkt-law.com or Megan@mktlaw.com.