Employer retaliation against employees is prohibited in Maryland. Workplace retaliation can include dismissal, demotion, shortened schedules, and the like. These actions are made as a result of a protected action, including:
- Filing a complaint about workplace safety
- Making a complaint about race discrimination
- Assisting in government investigations and identifying fraud against the government
- Opposing practices prohibited by the Fair Employment Act
An experienced JGL employment lawyer can guide you through the necessary processes to protect your rights and correct these situations.
What is Workplace Retaliation?
Retaliation in the workplace occurs when an employer, company leader, or co-worker takes negative action against an employee who has filed a complaint about workplace discrimination or harassment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recognizes filing a complaint a “protected” activity, therefore such action is illegal and responding to a complaint in an inappropriate manner is prohibited.
Some clearly prohibited workplace retaliation activities include:
- Preventing employees from attending meetings or other business events
- Denying or postponing a raise or promotion
- Moving an employee from their current department or location
- Negative performance reviews
- Limiting employees hours
- Creating an unsafe or uncomfortable work environment
Here are more subtle examples of workplace retaliation:
- Excessive micro-managing of employees
- Leaving employees out of group activities like lunches, happy hours, etc.
- Ignoring employees in the break room
- Being overly critical of work that was previously deemed acceptable.
- Spreading rumors about
Proving Workplace Retaliation
According to federal case law and regulatory agency guidelines, three necessary elements are required to prove workplace retaliation. There must be a protected activity, followed by an adverse action. And, you should be able to establish a causal connection between the activity and the action.
There are several types of evidence of retaliation in the workplace. Direct evidence, which proves the existence of a retaliatory motive without inference or presumption. Most commonly, this is a sworn statement by another employee with direct knowledge, whom the jury believes. In such cases, the employee has proven the ultimate issue of retaliation. You can also use call and chat logs, company policies, employee handbooks, performance history and review, emails, letters and memos, personal notes, journal entries, texts, voice messages, videos and other recordings in support of the claim.
How a Workplace Retaliation Lawyer Can Help
An experienced JGL employment lawyer can review your allegations and provide guidance on how to best proceed to file an action against your employer. With more than five decades of experience we are well equipped to provide the right path to recovery and resolution in workplace retaliation claims.
Contact an Experienced Maryland Workplace Retaliation Lawyer
What matters to you, matters to us. For more than half a century, JGL attorneys have fought to improve the future of families, the arc of careers, the success of businesses, and your most basic human rights. The attorneys of JGL take your business, family, and personal issues as personally as you. Should you wish to discuss your workplace retaliation matter, please contact a JGL employment lawyer.
