Supreme Court Expands Retaliation Protection
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings in favor of employees who faced retaliation after filing race and age discrimination complaints.
In essence, the Court ruled that any statute that prohibits discrimination also prohibits retaliation for complaining about discrimination. In CBOCS West, Inc. v. Humphries, the Court ruled 7-2 that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (commonly referred to as Section 1981) protects race discrimination complainants from retaliation as well. In Gomez-Perez v. Potter, the Court ruled 6-3 that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects federal employees who complain of age discrimination from retaliation.
Some employer advocates pointed to the fact that neither Act contains an express prohibition against retaliation. They argued that employees should be required to sue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which specifically forbids retaliation. Title VII has tighter filing deadlines and limits the amount a plaintiff can recover.
The cases may not have significant impact. The practical result of Humphries will be that employees (1) may now bring race retaliation claims under Section 1981 without first filing EEOC charges and (2) are no longer bound by Title VII’s tighter deadlines and monetary caps. That is already the law in several jurisdictions. The Gomez-Perez case is limited to federal employees and should have no effect on private employers.
Still on the Court’s docket is another case that will decide whether Title VII protects employees who participate in an internal investigation from retaliation.
Stay tuned.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28. Sad to say, this ancient truth is nowhere to be seen in the modern American arena. Do we discriminate against women, blacks and Hispanics? What a strange world that we still have issues regarding discrimination. Like sexual harassment, the true victims rarely report it while the abused suffer in silence. This is a problem. Huge Problem. In my book, Wingtips with Spurs, I devote a chapter to discrimination and how it is often over-looked or swept into a dark corner. And yes, it still exists in modern America. While we pour more stupid laws into the books to prevent such painful actions, we fail to fix the real problem, that is, the root. In addition, we have been conditioned by lawyers to believe that legal and moral are the same thing. So sad. Whenever a human is treated differently than the masses, we should take a cold, hard look at the situation. A hard look indeed. Maybe even the mirror. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR http://www.michaellgooch.com