RETALIATION IN RESPONSE TO WORKPLACE COMPLAINTS

Workplace Retaliation

When employees suffer discrimination, have unpaid wages, or blow the whistle on company fraud, they often suffer retaliation in response to their complaints. Federal and state law protect against certain kinds of retaliation for employees who make complaints about unpaid wages, discrimination, or whistleblowing/fraud.

Federal and state laws protect against all kinds of retaliation, such as a boss yelling at an employee for complaining about unfair work assignments if—and only if—the assignments are made in a way that discriminates based on race, gender, age, religion, disability, or other protected category.

Young aggressive businessman making watching you gesture to employee

If you think you have experienced workplace retaliation, you should contact employment attorneys with experience handling retaliation. The attorneys at Pelton Graham are experienced in advocating for clients who have experienced retaliation after complaining about discrimination and unpaid wages. We are happy to talk with you and answer any questions about discrimination. Consultations are free, and as contingency fee attorneys, we do not get paid unless we recover for you.

Answers to Your Questions About Workplace Retaliation

What is workplace retaliation?

It is illegal for an employer to take any adverse or punitive actions against an employee for complaining about unpaid wages, discrimination, whistleblowing or other employment law violations. “Adverse actions” include termination, demotion, discipline, reduction of pay, or any other actions that would cause the average person to avoid making such a complaint. Adverse actions may occur outside the context of work and include threats, including threats of deportation or reporting a person to government authorities.

A “complaint” may be formal or informal, written or oral. The company must know about the complaint somehow, but there is no specific form that the complaint must take. Where a complaint is made anonymously, retaliation could occur if someone figured out who made the complaint.

It is important to note that the unpaid wages, discrimination, or fraud does not have to be proven for the complaining employee to be protected against retaliation. In other words, if an employee makes a complaint about race discrimination and is fired a few days later, the employer may be liable for retaliation even if no court or government agency finds that the underlying race discrimination actually occurred.

Have I experienced retaliation?

There are many forms of workplace retaliation. It can be different, less favorable treatment at any stage in the employment process, including job assignments, shift assignments, promotions, compensation, benefits, job training, layoffs or termination.

Retaliation may be very direct, such as when an employee is fired because of a complaint they made about unpaid wages, discrimination or fraud. It can also be more subtle, such as giving an employee less favorable job assignments, cutting them out of meetings or lunches, and not giving them the same networking opportunities as co-workers.

Retaliation can also occur outside the workplace. If an employer asks somebody to follow, stalk or threaten an employee who made a complaint, that would be retaliation.

What should I do if I think I have experienced retaliation?

One important step to take if you believe you may be the victim of retaliation in the workplace is to keep a log of all retaliatory incidents and communications. A log can be a simple handwritten page showing the date of the incidents, what occurred, who was present, and any other relevant information. Your recollection will be best shortly after the incident, but there is no requirement that logs be kept within a certain period of time. Logs are especially important if you do not have any written materials or recordings of incidents.

You should save any communications, such as e-mails or memos, or social media posts that are retaliatory or that refer to such incidents.

In some states you are permitted to make audio recordings of conversations that you are part of. Check your state’s laws about recording in-person and telephone conversations. If you live in a “one party” state, you may have the right to make audio recordings of conversations with individuals harassing you or discriminating against you.

The law limits the time that you can file a complaint about workplace retaliation. Since you have a limited amount of time to file any complaint, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible after an incident of retaliation.