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The Employer Handbook Blog
Articles Posted in Retaliation
What are there legal risks of making a worker participate in an Employee Assistance Program?
Suppose that several employees complain that a coworker is creating a “hostile work environment” because they were afraid that she (the coworker) was going to report them (the employees) for engaging in unspecified misconduct in the workplace.
Can the employer respond by mandating an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) referral as a condition of the coworker’s continued employment?
Complaints of discrimination can come in all shapes and sizes
A tenured professor in a university’s history department learns of “discrimination” and “marginalization” of Hispanic employees within the department. The university appoints him to an “Equity Committee” to address the problem. As part of his remediation efforts, the professor creates a “salary report” confirming instances of pay disparity among minority professors. He then circulates the report to colleagues and supervisors.
Will the professor have a viable retaliation claim if the university later takes against the professor because of the salary report?
EEOC sues “Bark If You’re Dirty” pet store for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. Because of course.
I enjoy blogging about employment law. But occasionally, perhaps after a long day, I wish some of these blog posts would write themselves.
Last night, I got my wish. Continue reading
Here are five signs that your employee’s retaliation lawsuit ain’t all it’s cracked up to be
An employee who claims retaliation in federal court must demonstrate they suffered treatment was “materially adverse,” i.e., something that could reasonably have dissuaded a reasonable worker from participating in a protected activity, like complaining about discrimination.
Last night, I read a decision from a federal judge in New York weighing allegations that the plaintiff’s supervisors knew the plaintiff had filed several EEO complaints and then retaliated against her.
But were the acts of retaliation “materially adverse”? Not really. No.
Can we fire an employee who complains about discrimination and is dead wrong?
I mean, sure. It’s a free country. This isn’t Communist Russia.
But if your company is concerned about a subsequent retaliation claim, read on.
What is (and is not) considered retaliation?
A director for a major transit authority applied for two internal promotions. She didn’t get either. Feeling that she was more qualified than either successful candidate, the director reported discrimination internally and later filed a Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Among other things, she alleged in the EEOC Charge that, after her internal report of discrimination, she experienced retaliation. For example, she alleged that he performance review scores went down, her workload increased, and some analysts no longer reported to her.
That’s not great. But, is it what the law considers “retaliation”?
What was an employer thinking fired a worker two days after complaining about “retaliation” and “harassment”?
On August 7, 2018, a worker sent an email. The email stated, “I fear retaliation” and “my colleagues and I have been the victims of continuous harassment, both sexual and emotional.”
On August 9, 2018, just two days later, the company fired her.
How do you think that turned out? Continue reading
He got fired after threatening to complain to HR. Could that be retaliation?
The plaintiff in this federal court decision I read last night didn’t exactly come off as a model employee. Continue reading