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Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog | Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP
Philadelphia Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Attorneys serving the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania areas. Pomerantz, Perlberger and Lewis have extensive experience with serious injuries as a result of someone else's negligence.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Supreme Court Extends Retaliation Protection
In late May, the Supreme Court said that employees were protected against retaliation for complaining about race and age discrimination in the workplace. This adds reprisal protection for race discrimination to protection for employees filing Workers' Compensation and Qui Tam lawsuits.
In the case of race discrimination, a Cracker Barrel manager said he was fired after he complained about race discrimination by other supervisors. Lower courts had said he was prohibited from filing suit because protection was only provided by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had a short statute of limitations and had a cap on damages. However, the court decided that protection against reprisals was implied under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, although the act does not explicitly state that reprisals are covered.
The other case, a US Postal Service employee claimed she was protected against reprisals after complaining about discrimination based on her age. She filed a claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which does not explicitly mention reprisal protection for federal employees.
Both decisions derived some of their precedence from a 2005 ruling on Title IX, which bars discrimination in education on the basis of sex, but does not explicitly mention reprisals.
If you believe you have been discriminated against in your workplace, please contact the experienced employment lawyers at Pomerantz, Perlberger, and Lewis, LLP today for a free initial case evaluation.
posted by Dr. Candelaria at 10:45:00 AM
1Comments:
As a benefit for those reading your blog, I would like to caution employers about how easy it is to fall into this snare. Yes. It happens and rather frequently. However, the offenders often do not know that they are engaged in this activity. Inappropriate behavior and off-hand remarks will sneak up to bite you. As a corporate director for a fortune 500 company, I have been blindsided many times by disparaging remarks made by your management team? The managers don’t realize at the time that they are in a discrimination mode. I detail these likely events in my management book, Wingtips with Spurs. Usually they will ‘get it’ when their depositions start. When you hear the following phrases, stop the offender, offer some education, and hope to goodness no one else heard them. If it happens again with the same person, it may be time to sell the cow. The courts and juries will decide if the remarks are ‘stray comments’ or direct evidence of a discrimination mindset.
• “We need sharp, young people.”
• “We need people who can come in early and stay late.”
• “They’re dinosaurs.”
• “They’re too old to learn something new”
• “We want employees who are young, lean, and mean.”
• “They wouldn’t be able to keep up with the fast company
growth.”
• “We’re looking for longevity.”
• “We need some young blood in this department.”
If a manager allows a culture that tolerates remarks such as the ones above, then the manager will probably get what he or she is asking for. The great leader will remind management on a frequent basis that they should never forget silence is often the best answer. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR http://www.michaellgooch.com
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