Attention Employers: “Retaliation” is the New “Discrimination”
According to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeing a surge of complaints based on retaliation – i.e., allegations that an employer retaliated against an employee who sought to protect his or her rights by complaining to the EEOC.
The article reports that eliminating retaliation is the EEOC’s top priority, because its enforcement of anti-discrimination laws will be successful only to the extent that employees free to file complaints.
So whether you are a large or small employer, here is the bottom line:
- Do not discriminate against any employee based on age, race, sex, religion, etc.
- If an employee files a discrimination complaint, do not retaliate against that employee.
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
Alice Doesn’t Work Here Any More
A software company (“Client”) had to dismiss one of its developers (let’s call her “Alice”). The problem was Alice’s incompetence.
But there was a complication: Alice was pregnant. Adding to Client’s frustration, Alice, without permission or advance notice, was taking more time off than she was entitled to. Client wanted to be rid of Alice but did not want to be charged with discrimination based on sex or pregnancy.
Focusing on the Issue
I worked with Client’s CEO and Alice’s manager. We agreed right away to ignore the unauthorized time off. The amount of money at stake was relatively small, and we were concerned that raising time off as an issue could entangle us in Alice’s pregnancy-related medical needs.
