Preventing Retaliation Claims by Employees
You can't retaliate against employees for complaining about harassment or discrimination.
When an employee complains about discrimination or harassment -- to you, to a government agency, or to someone within your business -- you must treat that employee with care. If you take any action that the employee might view as punishment or retaliation for the complaint, you might find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
All employers, managers, supervisors, and human resources representatives should become familiar with the law of retaliation, because retaliation claims are becoming more and more common. And they are also becoming more costly.
Retaliation Defined
Retaliation means any adverse action that you or someone who works for you takes against an employee because he or she complained about harassment or discrimination. Employees who participate in an investigation of any of these problems are also protected -- for example, you cannot punish an employee for giving a statement to a government agency that is looking into a discrimination claim.
Even if the original complaint of discrimination or harassment turns out to be unfounded, an employee who can prove that something negative happened because of the complaint can still win a retaliation claim.
Adverse action includes demotion, discipline, firing, salary reduction, negative evaluation, change in job assignment, or change in shift assignment. Retaliation can also include hostile behavior or attitudes -- by you or someone who works for you -- toward an employee who complains.
Retaliation Need Not Be Intended
Although retaliation obviously includes any action that you take with the intent to harm or punish the employee for complaining, it can also include actions that you take with the best of intentions -- if those actions have a negative impact on the employee.
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