What Are the Causes of Action for Retaliation?

An employee is awarded damages if the court sees the penalty as frivolous, unreasonable or taken in bad faith.

Employees are sometimes fired for engaging in actions that society sees as noble or ideal. As a result, employees can receive protection from wrongful actions carried out by the employer simply by filing a civil action for retaliation. Courts look for situations in which the employee was treated badly for performing certain protected actions. The state courts get to determine how they use action for retaliation.

Employee Penalization

In Sunnyvale, California, and most other cities, an employee can file a civil action for retaliation when the employee is penalized by an employer under certain conditions. Penalties can include demotion, suspension, firing or any other type of discrimination. Employees can also file if they testified against the employer in any proceeding. Employees can only file if they were penalized after filing a report or complaint to a company official, union official or public official. Damages awarded include costs and legal fees incurred as a result of the civil action. Employees can file a civil action for retaliation in other states under similar conditions.

Lack of Proof

Under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar legislation across the country, employees can sue if they are harassed by their employer, but only if the employee can prove that she was engaging in protected activity when she received the harassment and can also prove that there was a link between the two. Sometimes, the plaintiff of the lawsuit cannot prove that his actions were reasonable, which can lead to the plaintiff losing the case. For example, if the plaintiff thought that a boss was harassing another employee and takes action, the other employee does not believe that he was harassed, and the employer fires the plaintiff as a result, the court might rule that there is no way to determine that the plaintiff's actions were reasonable because of insufficient evidence supporting the reasonableness of the action.

Protective Actions

In Los Angeles and most other cities, the employee filing the action can win if the employee really was engaged in a protective action. For example, an employee might be fired by his employer and another employee might point out that the fired employee was performing satisfactory work and was not given a cause for the dismissal. If the employer takes actions against the employee defending the fired employee, the defending employee can file an action for retaliation.

Threat of Retaliation

Employees can also file when they are placed under a threat of retaliation by the employer. Employers cannot harass employees because of a disability, which includes a condition that could become a physical disability in the future.

Termination Over Third Party

Employees can sometimes receive protection if they are terminated over an action carried out by a third party. For example, if an employer harasses an employee's wife and the wife files harassment charges, the employer might choose to fire the employee/husband to get back at the wife filing the harassment charges. The employee could file an action for retaliation and win the case on these grounds.

References

• Sunnyvale Municipal Code; Civil Action for Retaliation
• Oncle; Texas Occupations Code - Section 505.603. Cause of Action for Retaliation
• California Employment Lawyers Association; Plaintiff's Second and Sixth Causes of Action for Retaliation under FEHA and the ADA Also Raise Triable Issues of Fact
• BNA; Fired Fiance Has Title VII Cause of Action for Retaliation, Supreme Court Decides 8-0; Michael Rose; January 2011
• Libert Cassidy Whitmore; Employee Sufficiently Stated a Cause of Action For Retaliation Where He Alleged that His Supervisor Imposed a Series of Adverse Actions Against Him After He Supported the Discrimination Claim of Another Employee; 2006