Retaliation

Court revives claim of HR manager

12/15/2022

A week after an HR manager testified in a lawsuit against a former employer, she was fired. The HR manager then sued the employer who fired her for unlawful retaliation, a violation of Title VII.

Employer must pay whistleblower $22 million

12/02/2022

Don’t shoot the messenger! That’s the lesson the Occupational Safety and Health Administration taught employer Wells Fargo in a recent whistleblower retaliation case. Wells Fargo has been ordered to pay $22 million to an internal whistleblower who raised concerns that the bank may have been engaged in illegal practices.

Sexual harassment and retaliation at funeral home

11/17/2022

A mortuary will pay $135,000 to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit. The EEOC sued on behalf of female employees who alleged the owner made crude sexual comments.

EEOC sues Red Robin for sexual harassment and retaliation

10/20/2022

Red Robin International, Inc. violated federal law when it allowed a male line cook to sexually harass female employees despite repeated notice of such unlawful behavior and retaliated against them for complaining.

Replace supervisor to prevent retaliation

10/06/2022

You can stop a harassment case from escalating into a retaliation lawsuit with one simple tactic. Replace the supervisor who allegedly harassed the complaining subordinate and don’t let him or her know anything about the prior complaint.

Retaliation case equals $22 million price tag

09/29/2022

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ruled that Wells Fargo violated the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for improperly terminating a Chicago area-based senior manager in the company’s commercial banking segment.

DOL awards back pay to hotel employee fired for reporting tip-related allegation

09/29/2022

When a hotel employee complained about the franchise operator’s pay practices, she was fired two days later. But the story didn’t end there.

Here’s what happens when your managers don’t follow your written call-out policies

09/22/2022

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, an employer can insist that employees comply with the company’s “usual and customary” absentee notice procedures. Often those call-out procedures are part of written leave and attendance policies. But, as one company found out the hard way, “usual and customary” absentee notice can transcend formal policies and procedures when managers bend the rules.

SHRM lawsuit puts spotlight on evaluations

09/15/2022

The best way to defend against a surprise discrimination lawsuit is to conduct accurate, regular reviews that assess a worker’s performance using as many objective standards as possible. Those evaluations then serve to back up any disciplinary action you take, even if the employee files an internal bias complaint and follows up with a lawsuit claiming subsequent discipline amounted to retaliation.

Warn bosses about adverse action after bias complaint

05/26/2022

Once an employee’s discrimination lawsuit gets to court, anything can happen. In fact, it’s common for employees to lose on their initial discrimination or harassment claims but still win an associated retaliation claim. That’s why you must train managers that any adverse action—even as minor as a schedule change—can be interpreted as retaliation if it comes after an employee has complained about bias or harassment