HR is ignoring my hostile work environment complaint - what evidence do I need?

On mobile so apologies for formatting. I work at a tech startup (about 60 employees) and have been dealing with harassment from my manager for 6 months. It started with inappropriate comments about my appearance, then escalated to him making sexual jokes in front of the team, touching my shoulder/back during meetings, and sending me messages outside work hours that are definitely not appropriate.

I reported to HR 3 weeks ago via email with specific examples. They said they'd "look into it" and assigned me to work from home temporarily. But nothing has happened since - he's still my manager, still in his role, and now I'm worried this WFH thing is actually retaliation to keep me quiet.

I've been documenting everything in a Google doc but not sure if I have enough for a legal claim. What evidence do I actually need to prove hostile work environment? Should I go straight to a lawyer or give HR more time?

Those text messages are smoking gun evidence - especially if they came from his personal phone to yours outside work hours. Save them multiple ways (screenshots, backup to cloud, forward to personal email).

Do this TODAY:

Email HR: "I submitted a harassment complaint on [date]. It's been 3 weeks with no update on the investigation status or timeline. Please advise on next steps and expected completion date. I'm also concerned that my temporary WFH assignment may constitute retaliation as I did not request it and it impacts my ability to collaborate with my team."

This creates a paper trail showing: (1) you're following up appropriately, (2) you're concerned about retaliation, (3) HR is dragging their feet.

If they retaliate via performance review or PIP, that strengthens your case significantly. Document your work quality/output meticulously right now.

Your state department of labor might handle this faster than a lawsuit. In California, the Labor Commissioner can issue penalties pretty quickly.