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Retaliation in New Hampshire

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One employee has made several discrimination complaints with the EEOC and Human Resources.  Can I fire her for being a troublemaker, in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire employers absolutely cannot find an excuse to fire an employee simply because she has made numerous discrimination complaints to the EEOC, or to the Human Resources department.

Retaliation alone, even if the original complaints were not valid, can constitute discrimination according to the law.  Discrimination based on color, race, sex, religion, or country of origin is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This same law also prohibits retaliation against workers who file complaints in good faith.

One way to think about this is that quite sadly, many companies do discriminate against employees.  If it were legal for companies to fire every employee who complained, nobody would ever complain.  Thus, the discrimination would continue.

There are various types of retaliation that can include a change in job duties, demotion, a change in pay, or a change in working conditions.  There are other methods that could be construed as retaliation, such as orchestrating an effort to get other employees not to speak to the employee in question, or to exclude the employee in other ways.  Failing to promote an employee, or to give the employee a wage increase that she would otherwise be entitled to, are also considered retaliation under the law.  All of these actions are illegal.

In Illinois, a recent case illustrates this.  Woodward Governor was found to be discriminating against African American, Hispanic, and Asian employees, as well as women, in its factories located in Rockton and Rockford, Illinois.  The EEOC found the company guilty of this charge.  The first suit in this particular case was for race discrimination, and was filed in 2003.  It was based on a complaint that had been filed in 2002.  A second suit was added by the EEOC for sex discrimination in 2006.  The suits were only recently settled.

Many of the complaining employees continued to work at the two different plants during the time that the suits were pending.  Had the company retaliated against any employees, the penalties would have been more severe.  In the end, the discrimination case cost the company $5 million.  JH