The World of Retaliation After Robinson v. Shell Oil

In the world of lawsuits between employers and employees, there is a big protected group of people who can’t be punished for speaking up about civil rights or illegal activity at work. It’s not always clear what counts as retaliation or who is covered. Recent legal decisions even protect people who don’t work for the employer anymore. This article looks at how lawyers handle these cases from both the employee’s and employer’s point of view. Since the Florida Civil Rights Act is similar to federal laws, federal case law applies. Basically, all employees are protected. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that anti-retaliation protections under Title VII apply to former employees, not just current ones. This means that employees who have left a job are still protected from retaliation for reporting discrimination or other illegal activities. In Florida, there are laws in place to protect employees from retaliation, including the Private Sector Whistle Blower Retaliation Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992. These laws aim to make sure employees can speak up about unfair treatment without fear of retaliation. The Whistle Blower Protection Act in Florida protects employees from being punished by their employer for reporting illegal activities to the government or refusing to participate in illegal activities. It also protects employees from unfair treatment based on their race, religion, gender, age, disability, or marital status. If an employer retaliates against an employee for reporting illegal activities, the employee is protected by law. In Florida, employee rights and employer obligations for retaliation are similar to national laws. If an employee feels they’ve been retaliated against, they must first show evidence, then the burden shifts to the employer to show a non-discriminatory reason. Finally, the employee has a chance to prove the employer’s reason is not true. The initial evidence includes three elements. If an employee thinks something unfair is happening at work, like discrimination, they can’t be punished for speaking up about it. They need to show they were treated unfairly because they spoke up. It’s not enough to just be unhappy with their job. They also can’t get away with doing bad things at work just because they spoke up. It’s hard to prove that the unfair treatment was directly because they spoke up. If someone believes they have experienced retaliation at work for doing something protected by law, they must first prove that the person who took the action knew about the protected activity. The timing of the adverse action also matters – if it happened before the protected activity, it can’t be linked to it. Adverse actions that happen soon after the protected activity are easier to prove as related. But even a delay of six months or more doesn’t automatically break the link. After proving these things, the burden shifts to the employer to show a non-retaliatory reason for the action. If they can’t, the employee wins. If they can, then the analysis goes to the final stage. In a retaliation claim, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant’s reasons for the adverse action are not true. If the plaintiff can prove this and has met all requirements, they can receive damages and attorneys’ fees. Retaliation suits can be filed by anyone who has business contact with an employer, and both current and former employees are protected. It’s important for both employers and employees to be aware of their rights and obligations regarding retaliation.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/the-world-of-retaliation-after-robinson-v-shell-oil/