Retaliation claims are the most common employment-related suits filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Since 1997, retaliation claims have been on a steady rise, and in 2013, such claims made up 41.1 percent of all charges filed with the EEOC, according to its own statistics. Because all of the laws enforced by the EEOC, which prohibit discrimination in employment, also prohibit retaliation in any aspect of employment, employers are highly susceptible to retaliation claims. Employers must take proactive steps to train managers, supervisors and human resources personnel to protect themselves against the ever-increasing liability of retaliation lawsuits.

Employers must be conscious of the need to manage without retaliating. To avoid retaliating, employers must first understand what it means to retaliate. Retaliation in the workplace is a form of unlawful discrimination whereby an employer takes an adverse employment action, such as harassment, demotion, termination or discipline, against an employee who has engaged in statutorily protected activity. Not every action an employee takes constitutes protected activity; rather, protected activity includes filing a charge of discrimination, complaining to an employer of actual or perceived workplace discrimination, or participating in an employment discrimination proceeding. The potential for a retaliation claim arises when an employer takes an adverse employment action against an employee after the employee has engaged in statutorily protected activity. Additionally, an employee can succeed on a retaliation claim even if the underlying allegation of discrimination fails, making it doubly important that employers take proactive steps to monitor for and prevent retaliation.

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