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Retaliation

Al-Jazeera America hit with $15M retaliation suit

08/13/2015
A former supervisor at Al-Jazeera America is suing the cable news network—owned by the government of Qatar—claiming he was fired for raising concerns about a senior vice president’s “overt misogynistic behavior.”

Coach wins $4M verdict after being fired for reporting hazing

07/17/2015
When the high school football coach at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School in Vallejo, California learned that some of his players were hazing underclassmen, he reported it to his superiors. The high school investigated and expelled five students. It also fired the coach who reported the hazing. He sued the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento for retaliation.

Broad arb clause can cover bias, retaliation, too

07/17/2015
A federal court considering whether a broad arbitration clause included in an employment contract bars discrimination and retaliation claims has concluded it does. That’s good news if you use employment contracts and want to push any subsequent employment-related claims into arbitration.

Boss at unemployment hearing? That’s not retaliation

07/13/2015
Generally, employees can’t sue their employers because of a personality conflict with a supervisor. Nor can they allege that it’s a form of retaliation for a disliked supervisor to show up in court in order to “torment” the employee.

Whistle-blowers need good faith, not proof

07/13/2015

When a New York City employee purports to report wrongdoing on the part of the city government, all that’s required is a good-faith belief that the alleged conduct constituted an “improper governmental action.” It’s illegal to retaliate against an employee who makes such a report.

Of gangs, G-Men and a dogged cop: Careful discipline prevails in court

07/09/2015

Employers that take their time to discipline troublesome employees who refuse to follow the rules often make out well if that employee later sues. That’s because they will have clear and unambiguous evidence that the employee deserved the discipline—not because he was a troublemaker, but because he couldn’t follow the rules others did.

Don’t let peevish behavior tie you up in litigation

06/26/2015
Nobody likes a serial litigator, but don’t fall into the trap of punishing an employee for repeatedly filing lawsuits.

Don’t let peevish behavior tie you up in litigation

06/26/2015
Nobody likes a serial litigator, but don’t fall into the trap of punishing an employee for repeatedly filing lawsuits. It could cause a retaliation suit.

After FMLA leave, watch timing of firing

06/09/2015
Generally, employees who take FMLA leave are only entitled to their job back if they are able to return to work right after their 12 weeks of time off expires. Imme­­di­­ately terminating the employee without a good reason may backfire, because it could be seen as retaliation for taking leave.

Don’t tell harassed worker to ‘move on’

06/08/2015
A new employee says her co-worker has sexually harassed her. You investigate and discover she’s telling the truth. You discipline the co-worker. Is that the end of the matter? Not if the new employee won’t stop talking about what happened and it’s beginning to interfere with her ability to get her job done.