What Are You Doing To Protect Against Retaliation Claims?

What are you doing to protect your organization from claims of retaliation? Are you even thinking about retaliation? You should be, because the Supreme Court of the United States is, and chances are your employees are more aware of their protections against retaliation. In the last two months, the Supreme Court of the United States has issued three decisions relating to retaliation claims. On January 24th, the Supreme Court ruled in Thompson v. North American Stainless that anyone within the “zone of interests” may have a claim of retaliation, even if they did not participate in the original complaint of discrimination. This decision effectively permits third-party claims of retaliation. About a month later, on March 1st, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision that allows employers to be liable for discrimination based on the bias of an employee’s supervisors. The decision in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, is being described by many as the most important employment law decision of the last decade. And now, three weeks after the Staub v. Proctor Hospital decision, the Supreme Court has issued yet another decision relating to retaliation. The decision, in Kasten v. St. Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation, holds that the anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act protect an employee’s oral complaints about wage and hour violations. In this installment, we'll be discussing the implications of these decisions for employers, and we'll provide some practical suggestions on how to keep your workplace free from retaliation claims.