There are some things that employers cannot do to their employees. For example, they are prohibited from retaliating against any of their employees for speaking out or exposing illegal or wrongful activity or practices, or because the employee has applied for workers’ compensation or family and medical leave. If the employee fires an employee for any of these reasons, or harasses them at work, then they may be in breach of both state and federal laws. Any employee who has experienced retaliation at work can file a complaint with a state or federal agency charged with enforcing workplace employment laws.
What is Retaliation?
Retaliation by an employer is any harmful action that the employer takes against an employee because of an action they have taken which is perfectly lawful. Examples of retaliation at work include:
- wrongful termination, i.e. firing an employee because of an action they have taken which is perfectly lawful;
- harassing an employee by verbal abuse, notes, letters, emails, texts or through social media;
- physical violence;
- refusing to pay the correct wages because they are retaliating, not because of their abilities or standards of work.
An employer may retaliate when an employee has:
- acted as a whistleblower, e.g. alerted authorities to an illegal or wrongful practice in their workplace;
- refused to carry out illegal or wrongful actions while in their workplace;
- applied for workers’ compensation after having been injured or become ill at work;
- applied for family or medical leave as is their right under the FMLA;
- filed a complaint of discrimination with the EEOC or state agency;
- filed a complaint with a Department of Labor because of wage theft.
How to Prove Retaliation
To be able to prove that your employer has retaliated against you, you must have evidence that this is what has happened and that it is illegal and not because of your work history or inability to do your job sufficiently well. To file a complaint of retaliation, your employer must have acted against you because of one of the examples listed above. For instance, if you discovered that your employer had been engaged in illegal activities, it is unlikely that your employer would have retaliated against you unless the employer was aware that you had alerted the police or other authorities that the illegal activity was taking place. In this case, you must have kept evidence of the illegal activity and the notification you had made or communication you had had with authorities.
If you believed that you had been fired or in some other way been retaliated against because you had applied for workers’ compensation or family or medical leave, you should again make sure you have evidence you had applied for either of these perfectly legal things. What is also required is any evidence you have had that it was because of these sorts of applications that you faced retaliation. This is not so easy, as it depends on receiving phone calls, text messages or emails or any other sort of obvious communication that it was because of something that you did, despite it being legal.
Evidence to Prove Retaliation
The evidence you need depends on the reason for the retaliation. You must have evidence that the employer acted against you because of something you did or said. Evidence could include:
- any communication you had with government authorities including state workers’ compensation boards, police, Department of Labor;
- any communication you have had with your employer, such as letters, emails, text messages, voice recordings, video recordings, social media messages, statements from co-workers who can corroborate your complaint.
Get Help With Your Retaliation Claim
Retaliation against an employee by an employer for reasons such as those described above, is illegal. An employer may face penalties such as fines if it can be proved that they breached state or federal employment laws. You can get legal help from an employment law attorney. Make use of our Free Case Evaluation form today! Complete it on this page to get connected and speak with an employment lawyer who takes cases in your area.
