What Is Retaliation in the Workplace?
Retaliation is anything that changes the terms and conditions of your employment. It can range from giving you the cold shoulder to termination. Examples of retaliatory conduct include:
- Increased harassment or verbal abuse for opposing unlawful conduct
- Changing schedules to an undesirable shift
- Assigning undesirable job duties
- Demotion or denial of promotion
- Relocation to an undesirable location
- Reduction in hours or pay
- Change in compensation plans or programs
- Denial of training or opportunity for advancement
- Discipline such as warnings, suspension or probation for trumped-up charges
- Termination
Retaliation can occur even after the employment relationship has ended if the employer engages in conduct designed to harm you because you complained, engaged in a lawsuit or complained of unlawful conduct.
What to Do if You Face Workplace Retaliation
If you feel that you have been retaliated against for standing up for your rights or the rights of someone else, contact the Dolan Law Firm online or call 415-636-8160 for a free evaluation of your legal matter.
The Dolan Law Firm has successfully handled hundreds of cases involving retaliation for its clients in San Francisco, Marin, Oakland, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara and the Silicon Valley and throughout California. You may be entitled to an award of damages if you have been retaliated against.
If you believe that you are being harassed or discriminated against or denied a legal right, you should complain to your supervisor, human resources department and/or the business owner, in writing, immediately.
Send an email, letter or interoffice memorandum and keep a copy for your records. Look in your employee handbook or at the company’s sexual harassment policy (if any) to see who is designated to receive complaints. Follow your company’s procedure for reporting your claims and document your actions in writing.
Keep notes of whom you spoke to, when you spoke and what was said. Identify any witnesses to the conversations and always memorialize the conversations in a memorandum or letter that you send to the employer. The law protects people from being retaliated against for exercising their lawful rights in the workplace.
Contact an Experienced Bay Area Retaliation Lawyer
It is unlawful to retaliate against an employee for complaining of discrimination or harassment, participating in and/or offering testimony during an investigation of a claim of discrimination and/or harassment, requesting an accommodation for a disability, requesting family medical leave, requesting pregnancy leave, demanding payment of wages, overtime, or the right to take breaks, filing a worker’s compensation claim, voting, being a member of a union, refusing to enter an unsafe workplace, or refusing to do an illegal act.
There is a limited time period within which to bring a claim of retaliation. You must follow certain procedures depending on the type of case and complaint that you have suffered. Contact the Dolan law Firm online or call 415-636-8160 for a free case evaluation with a San Francisco retaliation attorney today.
