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Retaliation

Doing the right thing nets HR director big payday

12/15/2025
Federal laws like Title VII protect HR professionals from retaliation for bringing discrimination and harassment to light, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a long history of vigorous enforcement of retaliation protections. A recent EEOC settlement makes that clear.

After the SHRM verdict, 5 lessons for employers

12/15/2025
A Colorado jury awarded $11.5 million to a former Society for Human Resource Management employee on race-discrimination and retaliation claims. Employers do not need to take a side to learn from what happened. The themes in this case surface in workplaces of every size.

Court orders trial in abortion discharge case

03/13/2025
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act bans retaliation for exercising rights under the law, including receiving medical care related to pregnancy.

Document termination decision before telling worker

02/28/2025
Always document disciplinary decisions the moment you make them—and before you tell the employee. That way, you can successfully argue that you could not have retaliated against the employee because the decision was made before you knew about their request.

How microaggressions can lead to major legal headaches

02/12/2025
A “microaggression” is a subtle, often unintentional comment or action that conveys bias or discrimination against a marginalized group. In the right circumstances, they can amount to an adverse action that supports a workplace retaliation claim.

Employer lessons from 2024’s worst employee lawsuits

01/03/2025
It’s a new HR year and we’re here with some important lessons from the top four employment lawsuits of 2024. Don’t repeat these employer mistakes.

A cautionary tale: Lessons from a recent retaliation case

12/11/2024
Retaliation claims can be among the hardest to defend. Timing and intent are everything, and even well-meaning employers can stumble without strong policies and careful implementation.

Adverse action: Beware creating the perception of retaliation

11/04/2024
An employee who suffers an adverse employment action shortly after filing a complaint or returning from a leave of absence is likely to smell a retaliation rat. But what’s considered an adverse action?

Tolerate boss’s racist behavior, retaliation? Prepare to pay millions in damages

10/16/2024
If you need a reason to stamp out workplace name-calling, discriminatory work assignments and retaliation, consider the massive punitive-damages award a jury recently granted to an employee who sued because of ongoing racist behavior by a supervisor.

Fed agencies by the numbers for FY 2024

10/15/2024
The EEOC, National Labor Relations Board and OSHA have released new statistics on their activities during federal fiscal year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.