Understanding the Basics of Retaliation in New York City
Retaliation cases are probably the easiest cases for employees to win. To help you understand what kind of facts can lead to a retaliation case, I will set out the 3 basic elements here. It is pretty simple.
1. Protected Activity
First, you need to have engaged in protected activity. This means that you need to have made a complaint to someone in the company (like your boss or HR) about a potential violation of your rights such as employment discrimination (age, gender, pregnancy etc...), sexual harassment or overtime violations. You don't have to prove that a violation occurred, you just have to complain about a possible violation.
2. Adverse Employment Action
Next, you have to prove that your employer did something bad to you after you complained. In New York City, the bad thing can be just about anything negative such as lowering your performance rating, transferring you to a less desirable job, changing your hours, taking away any kind of perk - pretty much anything that would reasonably deter others from making complaints will be enough. The anti-retaliation law in New York City is very broad.
3. Causal Connection
The last element of a retaliation claim is proving that your complaint (protected activity) was the cause or motivation for the adverse employment action. The point here is to show that your company did the bad thing to you soon after you complained. The closer in time the better. For example, if you complain to your boss about sexual harassment on Monday and get fired the next day, then you probably have a great retaliation case. Typically you want to see no more than a few months between the the complaint and the adverse action. But some cases have allowed 14 months to pass between the events.
These are the basics of retaliation at work in New York City. Of course, each case if different, but these are the general rules. You can see a short video regarding a typical retaliation case at our website here. Retaliation cases are also known to produce some of the highest verdicts.
