She signed a severance release, collected her benefits, and then sued anyway. The Sixth Circuit just explained why that didn’t work – and why the employer’s paperwork made all the difference.
Two supervisors warned a new hire in his first weeks on the job: file an EEO complaint against us, and we’ll end your government career. Then they did. Continue reading
Some employment cases turn on close calls, messy comparators, or shaky documentation.
This one turned on something simpler: an employee who admitted to a string of workplace misconduct and still tried to turn the termination into a discrimination, retaliation, and hostile-work-environment case. Continue reading
That escalated quickly.
A university fired its HR director and asked him to return his work laptop. He refused for months. Campus police eventually obtained a felony arrest warrant. When the former employee finally showed up with the laptop, officers arrested him. He then sued for retaliation. Continue reading
A manager allegedly makes racially inappropriate jokes. Months later, the company eliminates a position in a nationwide cost-cutting initiative and reduces an employee’s hours. So she sues for race discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment.
But she loses. Continue reading
Employees do not need to use legal buzzwords to be protected from retaliation. But they do need to complain about the right thing.
General workplace grievances are not the same as opposing unlawful discrimination, and courts continue to enforce that distinction. Continue reading
Me? I probably would not tell the EEOC that I removed a Black employee from work because of her “introduction of race” into the workplace. Especially after she complained about race discrimination triggered by a question about attending a Black Lives Matter protest.
But that is exactly what happened here.
And it is exactly why the employer lost on retaliation at summary judgment. Continue reading
Performance improvement plans are often treated as neutral management tools. This case shows how quickly a PIP can become the centerpiece of a retaliation claim once an employee raises equity concerns. Continue reading
If retaliation claims could be proven just by pointing to an employer’s handbook, summary judgment would be extinct. This court made clear that policies don’t replace proof. Continue reading
HR professionals do not have a crystal ball. When an employee files an EEOC charge, no employer can predict how that dispute might later be reframed in a lawsuit or expanded with new legal theories.
A recent Fourth Circuit decision recognizes that reality, while still reinforcing something practical for employers and HR teams alike: the EEOC charge plays a meaningful role in defining the case that follows. Continue reading
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