Articles Posted in Retaliation

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Image by DigitalShards from Pixabay

I’ve talked a fair amount recently about retaliation claims (here and here), mostly focusing on timing as the possible link between a protected activity (such as a complaint of discrimination) and an adverse employment action (like a firing).

The plaintiffs in those cases were unsuccessful in proving retaliation. And, in the case about which I’m blogging today, the employer almost prevailed on summary judgment too.

Almost. Continue reading

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Image Credit: Photofunia.com (https://photofunia.com/results/5d750cee089f7a9b358b4594)

Last week, I blogged about a situation in which two employees alleged that their former employer retaliated against them for participating in a workplace investigation. Each claimed that the close timing between the investigation and their subsequent firing confirmed that there must have been some retaliatory animus.

They were wrong.

What I have for you today is another similar situation. This time, we have an employee who complained about a supervisor’s sexual harassment. The company investigated. Then, it fired the supervisor and promoted the victim to supervisor. And then promoted her again. But, later, the company fired the victim. Continue reading

You’ve been here before.

One of your employees just complained about discrimination in the workplace. Or maybe s/he just participated in an HR investigation. A few days or weeks later, s/he violates your work rules and you have clear grounds to fire the employee.

Now you have a conundrum. Do you fire the employee and risk the retaliation claim? Or do you give the employee a pass?
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Let’s say that you learn that one of your employees is testifying as a witness in a discrimination case against another company in your industry. That doesn’t sit right with you. So, you tell this employee that you’ll fire him if he testifies.

Is that legal? Or is that, perhaps, retaliation? Continue reading

Today, I’m going to tell you the story of a man that has now sued the same employer four times.

It’s a bit like the Buffalo Bills of employment litigation, except the plaintiff here hasn’t suffered a fourth defeat…yet.

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Broadway (Nashville) lights

By dconvertini (Nashville, Tennessee, USA) [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

I was going to begin this post by telling you more about my weekend trip to Nashville. But since I can hear the sound of thousands of pearls being clutched, I’m not going to bury the lede. Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
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