Employees should feel safe at their place of work; this is the bare minimum. They should be able to do their tasks without experiencing ultra-high levels of mental or physical stress. Not all workers have that experience, though, even if there are federal and state laws to protect them.
Unfortunately, one issue that employees have been facing for a while is retaliation. Workplace retaliation occurs when a superior makes a negative employment decision after an employee exercises a legally protected activity. This can be blatant or subtle, so spotting the signs isn’t always easy.
To understand more on this topic, keep reading this post.
Three Signs of Workplace Retaliation
There are many different types of retaliation in the workplace, but three of the most common retaliatory actions have been listed below:
Denied Opportunities
If an employee is denied a promotion that they are deserving of, this could be a form of retaliation. For example, a female worker might notice that her male coworkers are being given opportunities when she isn’t, and she might be excluded from meetings or social activities after highlighting this issue to her employer.
Sudden Schedule Changes
The duties, hours, or shifts you work could also be used to retaliate if you make a complaint or simply exercise a particular right, like requesting medical leave. There have been situations where workers found their overtime hours were not tracked, resulting in no overtime wages. When this was raised to the manager, the workers found their hours reduced considerably.
Unexplained Termination
Another form of workplace retaliation is being fired. This is also known as wrongful termination, which means the employer dismisses the employee for reporting discrimination or other illegal acts. Employer retaliation and firing is one of the most-known situations.
How to Prove Workplace Retaliation
If you suspect you have been the victim of retaliatory action, then the three steps below can help you provide it.
Gather Evidence
As retaliation can be a difficult thing to prove, it is vital that you document as much as possible. You must keep a detailed record of all incidents related to your case, and you should include the date, time, and details. If anyone was nearby when any of the situations occurred, you should also note down their names in case you require witnesses at a later date. At the time of the incident, these individuals might be able to provide a written statement, too.
What documents you gather will also be crucial in supporting your claim. Of course, you should only collect what you can access legally, but this might include emails, instant messages, memos, letters, and other methods of correspondence. These documents could state your demotion, pay reduction, or so on.
Show the Timing
Proving that there is a clear link between one action and the retaliation is necessary, so you will need to show the timing of both. For example, if you noticed that you were being passed for promotions in favor of younger coworkers and reported this to your supervisor, you need to provide that you were excluded from meetings and important projects shortly afterward.
The time between you reporting the incident and the change in your treatment will be analyzed. This will be used to establish a link between your complaint and the retaliation. If the time between the complaint and the retaliatory action is short, you will have a stronger case.
Prove Your Employer is Involved
Similar to the timing, proving your employer was directly involved in the retaliation will strengthen your case. You need to show that your employer knew about your complaint or protected activity, like medical leave, when they took adverse action against you. It is also necessary to prove that they did not do anything to resolve the situation.
Although this can be difficult to prove, this is when your colleagues will be beneficial. If your coworkers can provide statements to prove your employer was aware of the complaint or protected activity, this is useful. Similarly, you might have emails or meeting notes that can be used as proof of this.
To conclude, many businesses can be the setting of workplace retaliation. This is a difficult situation to cope with, but the information found in this post should be able to help you.
