by Stephen D. Hans | Mar 26, 2014 | Retaliation
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 2012, 38 percent of all EEOC claims were for retaliation. The reason retaliation claims have become so popular in recent years is because case law and legislative developments have: Broadened the field of people protected against retaliation Relaxed the burden for establishing retaliation Expanded the damages available to a plaintiff in such a claim Further, retaliation claims have a much higher success rate than discrimination claims. The basics of a retaliation claim In essence, a retaliation claim is that the employer ‘took revenge’ or retaliated for an action the employee took that was legally within the scope of employment law. For an employee to establish an unlawful retaliation claim, he or she must show that: They took part in a protected activity (such as file a claim) Their employer took an unfavorable action against them There was a connection between the protected activity and the unfavorable employer action. For an employee to establish protected activity they must show the participation in the activity was protected by employment law such as: Filing a claim Testifying Assisting/taking part in an investigation Opposing an unlawful employment practice The Supreme Court and Congress have broadened coverage and damages A number of U.S. Supreme Court rulings have expanded anti-retaliation protection to cover things such as: Broadening the term “employee” to include former employees Allowing oral complaints to have a comparable weight as filed complaints The “scope of the anti-retaliation provision extends beyond workplace-related or employment-related retaliatory acts and harm” Further, legislation passed by Congress has expanded the range of damages and expanded anti-retaliation protections,...
