Three federal agencies want to end retaliation by hosting a “virtual dialogue” with employers next week.

Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a joint initiative to raise awareness about retaliation issues when workers exercise their protected labor rights.

The EEOC press release notes that “charges alleging retaliation have increased as a percentage of the total number of charges filed with the EEOC every year for the last 20 years.”

Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda emphasized “the U.S. Department of Labor’s fight against wage theft, misclassification, discrimination, unsafe or unhealthy workplaces, and other unlawful employment practices.”

“All too often, workers face adverse action for speaking out about their pay, health and safety issues, discrimination, or other working conditions. Under the National Labor Relations Act, it is unlawful for employers to retaliate against workers for taking collective action to improve their working conditions,” said National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.

The joint initiative will launch on November 17, 2021 with a virtual dialogue with the employer community focused on “the importance of workers’ anti-retaliation protections for those exercising their rights and the agencies’ shared commitment to vigorous enforcement.”

How will this “virtual dialogue with the employer community” work? I don’t know.

How can you sign up to attend? Not a clue.

Where will virtual dialogue take place? You got me.

When I get answers to any of these questions, I’ll post them here.

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What I do know is that if you’ve got questions about the OSHA vaccine-or-test mandate, my partners Amy Epstein Gluck, David Renner, Sid Steinberg, Gordon Berger, and I will be hosting a free, live Zoom on Friday, November 12, 2021 at Noon ET. Space is now hecka-limited, but you still register for that here (https://bit.ly/OSHAETSZoom).