Employee Rights - Protection from Retaliaton
Employee rights are slowly expanding and includes strong legal protection against work place retaliation. The New York City Administrative Code is powerful and outlaws almost any kind of retaliation. Also, the United States Supreme Court has issued several good opinions supporting retaliation laws.
Retaliation occurs whenever an employee is punished for reporting illegal work place conduct such as discrimination, sexual harassment or certain health and safety violations. The anti-retaliation laws also protect other employees who may not have reported the illegal conduct, but who serve as witnesses or support the employee who reported the misconduct.
The United States Supreme Court has made it clear that workers must be protected from retaliation. The Court recognizes that retaliation cannot be tolerated. Otherwise, the anti-discrimination and harassment laws will have little effect if workers can be punished for reporting discrimination or harassment. Employees will not report workplace violations if they are not protected.
In a recent decision, the United States Court stated that "fear of retaliation is the leading reason why people stay silent instead of voicing their concerns about bias and discrimination." In it's most recent decision, Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, the Court again held in favor of an employee who had been fired shortly after she told company investigators that her boss had sexually harassed her. For more on this case or to get a full version of the Court's decision, see The Employment Law Memo.
