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Retaliation in Maryland

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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 Maryland?

Employers in Maryland cannot find an excuse to fire an employee simply because she has made discrimination complaints to the EEOC, or to the company’s Human Resources department.

Quite sadly, many companies do discriminate against their workers. Were it legal for companies to fire each employee who complained against them, no one would ever file a complaint. Discrimination, therefore, would continue.

Even if an employee files an original complaint that is not valid, the act of retaliation alone can constitute discrimination under the law. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination based on religion, color, race, country of origin, or sex is prohibited. This law also prohibits any form of retaliation against workers who file complaints in good faith.

Forms of retaliation might include such things as a change in pay, a change in job duties, demotion, or a change in working conditions. It might also be construed as retaliation for employers to orchestrate an effort to get other employees not to speak to the employee in question, or to exclude that employee in other ways.

There was recently a landmark case in Illinois that clearly illustrates this principle. According to the EEOC, Woodward Governor was discriminating against Hispanic, Asian, African-American, and female employees in their factories in Rockton and Rockford, Illinois. The first suit that was filed in this particular case was for race discrimination, and it was filed in 2003. The suit was based on a complaint that had been filed in 2002. In 2006, the EEOC added an additional suit for sex discrimination. Both of those suits were only recently settled.

Many of the complaining employees continued to work at the two plants during the time that the suits were ongoing. This particular case wound up costing Woodward Governor $5 million. The penalties would have been even more severe had the company retaliated against any of the employees.

It is very important for companies to realize that retaliating against any employee is a bad idea, even if it is believed that the employee is a troublemaker. JH