Be forewarned that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has proposed guidance that would take a more aggressive stance against retaliation.
As you may know, and by the EEOC’s own reckoning, retaliation is the most frequent type of alleged discrimination with which the EEOC deals.
While this is only proposed guidance at this point, it shows where the EEOC would like to go with all employers who may be subject to the EEOC’s purview. Accordingly, the employers should take care that before they discharge an employee (or take any other form of adverse action against an employee or an applicant), who separately has made a discrimination complaint, that there be documentation to justify the termination (or other adverse action). This will minimize the chance that the EEOC will find that the termination (or other adverse action) was retaliatory for having made a discrimination claim.
In our experience, and as the EEOC notes, even if the original discrimination complaint fails with the EEOC (or Pennsylvania’s HRC), the agency still could find retaliation. So again, be forewarned.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Employment Log (EPELog) is a publication of the KingSpry Employment Law Practice Group. Jeffrey T. Tucker, Esquire, is our editor-in-chief. EPELog is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
