If you have been fired, demoted, or denied training or promotion opportunities at work in the Milwaukee area because of your participation in an investigation into a coworker’s discrimination complaint, or because your legal whistleblowing, you may have an employment discrimination claim. Reporting sexual harassment or telling authorities about illegal activity that you witnessed on the job is not a justifiable reason to fire you, according to Section 704 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA).
To discuss your retaliatory discharge claim with an experienced Wisconsin employment lawyer, contact Alan C. Olson & Associates, s.c. Schedule a free initial phone consultation and learn how to assert your rights.
If an employee reports potentially wrongful or illegal conduct on the part of an employer and is fired for it, this likely creates an actionable claim against the employer. We pursue retaliating employers to the fullest extent of the law on behalf of our clients.
Section 704 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act ("WFEA") make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against an employee because the employee has opposed discrimination by the employer, or because the employee has:
- Made a Charge
- Testified
- Assisted or Participated in Any Manner in an Investigation, Proceeding or Hearing
Adverse actions can come in many shapes and sizes in addition to false performance appraisals, discipline and discharge of the complaining employee. Many actions that put the complainant in a more unfriendly working environment are considered retaliatory: actions like moving the person from a spacious, brightly lit office to a dingy closet, depriving the person of previously available support services (like administrative help or desktop computer) or cutting off challenging assignments.
To establish a prima facie case of retaliation the employee must show that (1) the employee engaged in some statutorily protected expression; (2) the employee suffered an adverse action by the employer; and (3) the employer took the adverse action because the employee engaged in some protected expression.
The law deliberately does not take a laundry list approach to retaliation because, according to the Seventh Circuit, "unfortunately its forms are as varied as the human imagination will permit."
If you feel you have suffered discrimination based on retaliation, contact us to discuss the ways in which we can help.
New Berlin, Wisconsin 53151