Supreme Court to Rule on Investigation Retaliation
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will determine whether federal law protects employees who cooperate in an internal investigation.
The case involves an employer who conducted an internal investigation into harassment allegations against its employee relations director. The employer’s payroll coordinator was interviewed as part of the investigation but filed no complaint of her own. During the interview, she alleged that the ER director harassed her and others.
The employer ultimately concluded that the ER director had engaged in inappropriate conduct. However, it found that the conduct wasn’t as egregious as alleged by the payroll coordinator and thus discipline wasn’t warranted.
The employer later fired the payroll coordinator for alleged drug use and embezzlement. She denied the allegations and filed a lawsuit, claiming that her termination was retaliatory in violation of Title VII.
Title VII bars retaliation in two situations: (1) opposition — where an employee opposes an unlawful employment practice and (2) participation — where an employee participates in an investigation, proceeding or hearing.
The payroll coordinator contended that her actions constituted both “opposition” and “participation.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit disagreed. It found no “opposition” because she never filed a complaint. It found no ”participation” because the investigation was purely internal and not related to a pending EEOC complaint.
Will the Supreme Court reject the 6th Circuit’s decision and rule that participation in a purely internal investigations triggers the “participation” protection against retaliation? Stay tuned . . .
January 24th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Despite being a management-side lawyer, I cannot see how this case can come out any way but in the employee’s favor. A result for the employer would chill employees’ participation in internal investigations. In my experience, employees who are interviewed in a company investigation already perceive that they can be fired if the company doesn’t like what they have to say. It’s hard enough as is to get employees to voluntarily cooperate. An assurance of no retaliation is one of the few tools you can use to get employees to open up and talk. A ruling for the employer in this case would make internal investigations impossible to conduct.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jon!