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Articles Posted in Retaliation

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Can out-of-state remote workers handpick the most favorable state employment laws for a lawsuit?

In the evolving landscape of remote work, many employees believe they are shielded by the laws of the state they reside in. However, a recent decision from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey — of all places !!! — reveals a harsh reality: working remotely…

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How can your business avoid retaliation claims? Just do what this company did.

When an employee complains about discrimination or unethical business practices, there’s often a concern that they’ll construe any subsequent adverse employment action as retaliation. In a decision I read last night, a Michigan federal judge determined that a company had not retaliated against an employee who was fired not too…

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The EEOC just sued some employers for preventing transgender employees from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity

In 2015, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined that a federal agency that denied an employee equal access to a common bathroom/facility corresponding to the employee’s gender identity discriminated based on sex and could not restrict a transgender employee to a single-user restroom. About five years later, the Supreme…

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Can we refuse to hire someone who previously filed an EEOC charge against us?

The answer is yes. (You weren’t expecting that, were you?) But here’s the thing. The company must base its decision not to rehire a former employee on a legitimate reason. For example, suppose an employee worked as a bartender, and the company terminated her employment for being late to work…

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Oh, you think you know retaliation, do you? Wait until you see this.

Yesterday, I read a press release in the EEOC’s Virtual Newsroom announcing the resolution of a retaliation lawsuit. In my twenty-plus years of practicing employment law, I didn’t recall seeing retaliation claims quite like this one. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the general manager complained to the company’s Acting Chief…

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Firing fast in certain situations can help defeat retaliation claims. Yes, firing FAST!

The common logic is that firing an employee shortly after complaining about workplace discrimination isn’t a good look. Indeed, the tighter the temporal proximity between the two events, the more likely the employee will perceive that the employer retaliated against them for their complaint. But. I read a commonsense Ninth…

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50,000 reasons to reconsider scolding an HR Manager for investigating sexual harassment claims (i.e., doing their job).

Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that a Pennsylvania-based construction company will pay $50,000 and furnish other relief to settle a retaliation lawsuit. According to the EEOC, a human resources manager received and subsequently investigated a complaint of sexual harassment against the company’s general manager. The EEOC alleged…

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Poor Yelp reviews — and not retaliation — are why this rude restaurant hostess got fired

The hostess at an Asian-American restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, was employed in that role for about two years. Two years the restaurant probably wishes it could have back. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted that the owners and general manager observed that the hostess was impatient with guests, gave…

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Retaliation can come in all shapes and sizes

Earlier this month, a federal appellate court addressed a few situations involving retaliation claims in the workplace in which parties (and sometimes courts) may misapply the law, namely, Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964. So, let’s clear this up. A retaliation claim has three elements: a protected activity,…