What are some examples of Retaliation in the Workplace?

There are a bunch of federal and state laws that prohibit employers from indulging in any form of discrimination against individuals that come under the category of the ‘protected class’. Be it during the selection procedure or during the tenure of the employee’s employment period, discrimination on the basis of age, race, religion, disabilities or gender are punishable under the court of law. In case you are a victim of such unlawful conduct by an employer then you must take the services of a Connecticut employment attorney and put forth a case claiming your rights. 

Speaking of retaliation, if an employer engages in any form of retaliation against their workplace employees, it is considered a crime. Of course, if there is a relevant and logical reason for retaliation, it can be forgiven. For example – an employee tries to steal some insightful documents from the employer’s office. The employer has full rights to retaliate by immediately firing the employee. But if an employer attempts to fire an employee because the employee complained of unpaid extra working hours (that is rightfully deserved), then the services of an employment retaliation lawyer can be acquired to sue the employer’s company.

Below are some examples to give you a better idea of what is considered retaliation at a workplace –  

• An employee aged 43 years is treated in an overlooked manner. Despite decades worth of top-notch performances, the employee is made to work on lower-level projects with intern level associates. The employee confronts the employer to figure out why he/she is receiving this unjust behavior. In the process, the employer’s ego is affected and he decides to terminate the employee’s contract. This makes the employer liable to the employee for unfair, unlawful and illegal retaliation.

• A female employee is spoken to in a sexually absurd context by her employer when she goes to pour a cup of coffee. Due to the employer’s filthy behavior, the female employee files a complaint within the company stating the specifics of the incident. The employer receives this complaint and discards it because his reputation and job are at stake. To make sure that the female employee cannot drill any holes in his professional career, he may terminate her contract and remove her from the company.

This is again an unlawful retaliation case as the employer was at fault first for verbal sexual harassment. The female employee stands to win this case because her retaliation attempt was disregarded by the culprit itself.

• All retaliation cases do not have to have a base of misconduct and unlawful behavior. There are other ways in which retaliation cases can arise. Say a female employee is sexually harassed via verbal means on a daily basis by a coworker. For this reason, she files a complaint stating the facts of the incident and she wants appropriate action to be taken. In this case, the employer may take a decision considering the best interests of the female employee, the culprit, and the company. This is again unlawful as the culprit is yet on the loose.

By saying the culprit in ‘on the loose’, we mean to say that the female employee was shifted to another department so that she can distance herself from the assaulter. Not only is the assaulter not punished but the female employee also has to cope with new responsibilities and duties. Even her potential bonus bracket that she would receive in her previous department has gone for a toss and as a result, she is earning a lower monthly income. This is illegal as the employer has taken away certain privileges and projects from the female employee for no fault of her own, neither for abiding by any requirement from the client. It is not fair that the female employee loses her seniority, the team she was working with, the current knowledge and information she has acquired, just because the employer thinks distancing her from the culprit is a solution to the problem.

In spite of the employer’s best intentions to eradicate any chance of this situation from occurring, the female employee’s work was substantially affected and this action would be considered retaliatory.

• If an employer unnecessarily submits negative job evaluations, cuts down compensation, takes away deserving benefits or forces the early retirement of an employee, it is too considered as retaliation. CT employment lawyers need to be hired to fight for the employee’s rights.

• When an employer illegally offers money or a senior job position to an employee in a desperate attempt to convince the employee to not sue the company or withdraw a case of retaliation, it is considered illegal and a court judge is responsible for deciding the outcome. Any retaliation attorney or Connecticut employment attorney would take up such cases with an almost assured positive outcome of the case.

If retaliation at workplaces occurs on any reason pertaining to the protected classes then the culprit can be dragged to court for a fair trial.