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Equal employment opportunity laws provide that employers may not retaliate
because a person files a discrimination complaint; participates, assists
or testifies in an investigation or litigation of a discrimination case;
or, reasonably opposes discriminatory
employment practices (e.g., 42 USC 2000e-3; 29 USC 215(a)(3)). In Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, this is referred to as Section
704 retaliation. It is independent of whether the employee's first
discrimination complaint has merit. The employee has a right to complain
about what (s)he considers to be unlawful discrimination, and it is against
public policy to punish an employee for exercising that right. Some
supervisors and employers may become angry at employees who file employment
discrimination cases, and they may take employment actions to punish the
complainant. Examples of possible retaliation are actions like unusually
poor performance evaluation, harassment, demotion, issuance of written
warnings, termination of employment, and
negative employment references. Complainants who experience retaliation
should contact the appropriate enforcement agencies like the EEOC, and inquire
about filing a retaliation charge. Usually a complainant has to file a
separate retaliation complaint to protect the option
to litigate the retaliation basis in a lawsuit. The retaliation charge also
has to be filed timely with the EEOC and state fair employment practices agency.
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