Human Resource Blog

Retaliation in New Jersey

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One of our employees in

New Jersey keeps complaining to Human Resources that we are discriminating against her. I say she is a trouble-maker and we should find a reason to fire her. What do you think?

Absolutely not. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a federal law, forbids retaliation. It is illegal. There are also related state laws in New Jersey that discriminate retaliation.

You as an employer may not fire a worker because she has complained to the EEOC or to your company’s Human Resources department, regardless of what excuse you may have come up with for firing her.

Remember that there are companies that discriminate against employees, and if employees who complained about this could be fired at the whim of the employer, then discrimination would have the upper hand, because no employees would complain.

On another level, retaliation against workers who managers consider to be troublemakers can become expensive as well.

Consider an important case in Illinois. There, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, determined that a company called Woodward Governor, with headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado, was discriminating against employees at plants in Rockton and Rockford, Illinois. 

The discrimination was against women, African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics.

The first lawsuit in 2003 applied to racial discrimination, and was based on a 2002 complaint. The second, for sex discrimination, was added in 2006.

The cases were settled recently, and cost the company $5 million. The employees who complained remained on their jobs. The award was higher because of some claims that Woodward Governor had retaliated against complaining employees. That means that retaliation can come at a high price to the company or management which engages in it.

There are various ways companies find to retaliate against workers who complain. They include changing jobs on them, demotion, changing working conditions, or cutting pay. The company might mastermind a scheme to get other workers to not talk with or to otherwise shun an employee who has complained. Failure to promote or holding back a pay hike might constitute retaliation. If so, it is illegal.

While Title VII covers employees who make good-faith complaints, it also covers all kinds of discrimination, including those based on race, religion, sex, color, or country of origin.