Retaliation

Both federal law and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act forbid an employer to take any adverse employment action against an employee for asserting a claim of discrimination or harassment, participating in a discrimination or harassment proceeding, or otherwise opposing discrimination or harassment. An adverse action is an action taken to try to keep someone from opposing a discriminatory practice, or from participating in an employment discrimination proceeding.

Examples of adverse actions include termination, refusal to hire, denial of promotion, threats, unjustified negative evaluations, unjustified negative references, increased surveillance, and an assault or unfounded civil or criminal charges that are likely to deter reasonable people from pursuing their rights. Adverse actions typically do not include petty slights and annoyances, such as stray negative comments in an otherwise positive or neutral evaluation, “snubbing” a colleague, or negative comments that are justified by an employee’s poor work performance or history.

Further, employees are not excused from continuing to perform their jobs or follow their company’s legitimate workplace rules just because they have filed a complaint or opposed discrimination or harassment.