Unlawful workplace retaliation occurs when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee after an employee has engaged in a protected activity. It’s an unfortunate situation in which an employee is ultimately punished for doing the right thing and reporting behavior/activity such as discrimination or harassment.
The laws protecting employees from workplace retaliation apply to all local and state governmental employers and private companies that have 15 or more employees.
If an employee files a discrimination complaint or opposes discrimination in the workplace (as further discussed below), these actions are protected under the law. A discrimination complaint in Texas, for example, may be based on:
Opposition Activity
In addition to the protected activities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has expanded its definition of protected activities to include opposition activity, meaning that an employer cannot retaliate against an individual for “opposing” an unlawful practice.
Therefore, an employer must not punish an applicant or employee for communicating opposition to a perceived equal employment opportunity violation. The EEOC has provided these examples of opposition activity:
The protection for opposition activity is limited to individuals who act with reasonable good-faith belief that the conduct opposed is unlawful or could become unlawful if repeated – meaning that it can be reasonable to complain about behavior that is not legally harassment or discrimination at the time.
Adverse employment actions take many forms. An action taken by an employer toward an employee qualifies as an adverse employment action if a reasonable employee would have found the action materially adverse, meaning it might have deterred a reasonable employee from making or supporting a charge for discrimination. Some examples include:
Therefore, in a retaliation case, legal proof of retaliation requires that:
Proving workplace retaliation is not an easy task, but don't let your employer punish you for exercising your rights.
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If you believe that you’ve been victim to workplace retaliation, please call the employment lawyers at Herrmann Law, PLLC at 817-479-9229 to speak to an experienced employment attorney.