Know Your Rights: Retaliation At Work

Retaliation is when an employer, through a manager, supervisor, administrator, directly fires an employee or takes any other type of adverse action against the employee for engaging in a protected activity.

And I'll explain that in a second.

An adverse action is an action which would dissuade a reasonable employee from raising a concern about a possible violation or engaging in another protected activity, i.e. filing a complaint, either internally or externally.

The reason why employers may retaliate against an employee can be complicated and nuanced as most human behavior is.

Our workplaces are filled with egos, power dynamics, pressure by companies to perform, pressures to please clientele, shareholders and boards, expectations of productivity and revenue, and countless other factors.

Lawyers, lawmakers, and commentators may try to reduce workplace disputes to clear rules, but human behavior, as we know it, as we know it through this podcast, workplace dynamics and business pressures are often more complicated.

The EEOC has commented on this topic, stating that the act of retaliation is equivalent to revenge, where a person perceives an unfair treatment and attempts to restore equilibrium by taking the matter into their own hands or her hands.

Research has consistently demonstrated that the desire for retaliation is common upon experiencing an offensive interpersonal encounter, particularly if the encounter threatens one's self-image.

Furthermore, the EOC has stated, if those accused sincerely believe they have done nothing wrong, or if they believe their offensive behavior was somehow justified, they may begin to ruminate and desire retaliation.

Even given the sociological explanation for retaliation, it doesn't change the law.

Thankfully, there are laws that protect employees from retaliation and explicitly lay out prohibition of retaliation for protected activities.

Retaliation serves to chill employees' complaints or protected activities, which is why laws against retaliation exist.

Unfortunately, retaliation happens far too often.

I can tell you that by my professional experience that it happens far too often in my past nearly 30 years of doing this.

And it has the desired effect.

It is extremely inconvenient for your employer to hear, answer, or respond to a complaint, accommodation request, or other protected activity.

The protected activity may disrupt productivity itself, sales, revenue, and simply just tick off your employer.

Probably the latter is the most often how it happens, just ticking off your employer.

They don't want to be told what to do.

But we tell them what to do.

So I continue on.

But inconvenience is not enough to circumvent the law.

We hope to empower employees at our firm to informing you of the rights to change the world of work for the better.

It's not the reason why you're listening to this.

Get educated.