How to Avoid a Retaliation Lawsuit
Recent court decisions have identified a disturbing trend for employers in discrimination lawsuits: mainly, that retaliation claims are often succeeding even when discrimination claims are not. In these cases, employees are winning substantial judgments based on illegal retaliation despite the fact that their initial claims of discrimination fail. The following tips provide general guidance to employers in avoiding retaliation lawsuits.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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Understand the law. Federal discrimination laws prohibit retaliation against individuals exercising their rights under the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. States also have similar laws prohibiting retaliatory practices. These laws generally provide that, to prove a retaliation claim, employees must show that they engaged in a protected activity (such as filing a discrimination claim), that they suffered an adverse employment action and that the adverse action was a result of the protected activity.
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Act without regard to an employee or potential employee's race, sex, age or national origin. This is the simplest and most basic way to avoid both discrimination and retaliation lawsuits.
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Evaluate all adverse employment actions (such as termination or demotion) before implementing them to make sure that all policies and procedures have been followed consistently and that employees making discrimination claims have not been subject to any kind of retaliation. Check to see if written warning and an opportunity to correct the problem was given to the employee.
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Enforce a zero-tolerance retaliation policy. Make sure managers and workers understand the seriousness of the policy. Supervisory personnel should also be held accountable to the company's employment policies.
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Document everything. All adverse employment actions, especially termination decisions, should be supported by documentation clearly showing the non discriminatory reasons for the action taken. Effective documentation should focus on factual information and be prepared at or very near the time of the event. The documentation should be thorough and accurate, and done consistently on all employees.
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Tips & Warnings
You may want to consult an employment law attorney if you have any questions regarding how to develop effective anti-retaliation policies and procedures, or for general advice regarding how to avoid a retaliation lawsuit.
