Retaliation
You’re Entitled to Stand Up for Your Employee Rights
If you’ve been subjected to discrimination, wage violations or other illegal workplace conduct, you have the right to stand up for yourself without fear of retaliation from your employer.
No one should be made to suffer for demanding they and their coworkers be treated fairly. Massachusetts employees are protected under state and federal law when they take steps to enforce and/or protect their rights or other employees’ rights, and your employer can’t take adverse action against you for doing so.
Despite these protections, many employers retaliate against workers who complain or try to enforce and/or protect their or their coworkers’ rights. Employees can be subjected to termination, demotion, reassignment, isolation, shunning, physical threats and other negative responses.
What Employee Activities Are Protected?
Most activities an employee undertakes to oppose discrimination, wage and hour violations and/or other illegal activity are protected, including:
- Complaining to any other person, including a supervisor, human resources employee or even a coworker
- Meeting with coworkers to discuss wage violations, discrimination and/or other illegal activity
- Filing a complaint with the Attorney General
- Bringing claims in court or arbitration, in the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, or in any other proper legal forum
- Taking any action to begin a legal proceeding, including for example, sending a demand letter
- Participating in or assisting in an investigation about the alleged violations and/or discrimination
- Testifying or preparing to testify in a proceeding regarding alleged violations and/or discrimination
What Constitutes Retaliation?
Retaliation is any adverse action an employer takes against an employee who engages in protected activity. Termination is the most obvious adverse action, but other forms of retaliation include:
- Discipline, suspension, demotion, or threats
- Taking away job responsibilities, pay or hours
- Harassment
- Imposing additional (or harder) standards
- Exclusion from meaningful participation in meetings and/or team activities
- Denial of, or reduction in, benefits and compensation available to other employees
- Assigning less desirable accounts or projects, including assigning less desirable sales opportunities to sales people
We Fight Against Employer Retaliation
We recognize the difficult decisions you may face when deciding whether to pursue legal action against your employer. Those decisions involve a number of considerations including reputation, emotional distress, career implications and personal concerns.
One thing you should never have to consider is employer retaliation. But in reality, you may need to consider the possibility of retaliation. Our lawyers are highly experienced in employment matters, and they can implement creative legal strategies to minimize or prevent retaliation.
If retaliation does occur, our attorneys are exceptionally skilled at assertively litigating retaliation claims. We’ll fight to ensure that you’re made whole for all of the reputational harm, emotional distress, loss of income and the loss of opportunities you may suffer.
If you’ve been retaliated against or are considering wage or discrimination litigation but are worried about retaliation, contact us for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your situation.
