What constitutes unlawful retaliation?

Employees are often worried that if complain about harassment or discrimination at work, they will face retaliation. While this is an understandable concern, pursuant to federal law, it is unlawful for your employer to retaliate against you for complaining about discrimination or wage and hour concerns. In fact, retaliation claims are a separate and distinct employment law claim. A claim for retaliation may exist where, for example, you complain about sexual harassment at work and you are subsequently transferred to an inconvenient location, given undesirable work orders, or even lose your job. In these situations, a claim for retaliation may exist – even if it turns out that you don’t have a claim for sexual harassment. Whether the underlying claim turns out to be valid is not a factor in retaliation claims. What is a concern is whether your employer takes actions against you for complaining about work place discrimination. The policy behind this is to encourage and promote employees coming forward to help get rid of discrimination.

For more information or if you believe that you may have suffered illegal discrimination, please contact the experienced Atlanta discrimination lawyers at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate case evaluation.