Retaliation
An employer may not fire, demote, harass, or otherwise retaliate against an individual for filing a complaint of discrimination, participating in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposing discrimination. It is illegal to retaliate against an employee or applicant because that person participated in an employment discrimination proceeding or investigation.
In a retaliation case, a primary focus is whether an "adverse action" following a complaint or "protected activity" would tend to discourage other people from complaining. It also doesn't matter whether the original complaint was valid. You cannot be punished for speaking up about illegal conduct. You cannot be punished for being a witness in a discrimination case.
Retaliation is prohibited so that people can enjoy full access to the protection of the civil rights laws. An organization cannot function effectively when workers are afraid.
When people are afraid of retaliation, they often:
- hesitate to ask questions they should ask
- don't report things they should report
- won't speak up when necessary.
If management is the last to know when something is wrong, that is a problem.