Q&A: Employee Witnesses Protected from Retaliation
Published by James Peters January 14th, 2007 in Discrimination, Q&A, Retaliation, Wrongful TerminationQ: One of my co-workers has asked me to testify for in her discrimination case against our employer. I want to help, but I am afraid that my employer will retaliate against me if I help her.
--Want to Help But Scared (CA)
A: Both state and federal discrimination laws prohibit retaliation by employers against employees for participating in an investigation or prosecution of an employment discrimination or harassment case.
Investigation Outcome Irrelevant
Even if it turns out that the employee who complains about discrimination was not discriminated against, or even if that employee turns out to be lying, you are still protected from retaliation.
The law protects the act of speaking up for someone else, which is evaluated independently of the underlying discrimination claim.
Retaliation Can Be Subtle
This year's landmark Supreme Court case of Burlington Northern v. White, 126 S.Ct. 2405 (2006), clarified and strengthened protections for employees against retaliation in discrimination cases.
The Court decided that any actions by an employer that would "dissuade" a "reasonable employee" from making or supporting a discrimination complaint is illegal retaliation and proper grounds for that employee to sue.
What this boils down to is that if you are retaliated against and in hindsight you would not have participated in the investigation if you had known what your employer would later do to you for it, then those actions are likely illegal.
Co-Worker Assistance is Crucial
One of the major motivations for the Court in the Burlington case was the strong public policy in this country to encourage those employees who witness discrimination against others to speak up and testify if needed.
It is important for these witnesses to feel comfortable testifying against their employers on other employees' behalf if there was wrongdoing.
Tags
California Employment Law | Cases | Discrimination | Harassment | Q&A | Retaliation | Wrongful Termination
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1 Comment DISCLAIMER
I recently started work at a large corporation, the working conditions were harsh. In other words because of a change in commands most employees were leaveing because the Manager. I feel the inviroment is hostile ..In order to get back at the boss alot of the workers call in sick to make the boss work harder, the only thing that happens though is the other employees left at work, work harder. I talked to my supervisor about the dirtyness in the resturant and the flys everywhere, she asked me in front of everyone do i have a problem with flys of course i responded yes...now she calls me a germ freak.. I called and emailed corp. and they are coming out this week ...I am afraid I will loose my job what can I do if they come and tell me I did not follow chain of command.