Dealing with Retaliation While Still Employed
Often, retaliation starts way before you are terminated from your job. Suppose you have complained to your management or human resources department about being discriminated, harassed, not being paid overtime, or suppose that you engaged in some other protected activity, such as complaining about a particular safety violations. Your employer who is set on retaliating against you might not want fire you right away for a variety of reasons, but instead might want to make your life much more difficult at workplace. This can include giving unfavorable performance review or a warning / counseling memo, micromanaging you or simply being mean to you.
What can or what should you do in this situation, besides considering transferring away from the manager who retaliates against you, if possible, or looking for another job?
Suing an employer who you still work for is usually not the best course of action for several reasons, the most obvious of which is the fact that your case will inherently be of small monetary value, because you don't have any tangible damages or wage loss at that point. Also, suing the employer is not going to solve the problems you are dealing with at work at that moment. No lawsuit or a court or a jury can force the employer to be nicer and more fair to you or to stop bothering you, so a lawsuit is not going to improve your working relationship with your management.
However, if you believe you will be soon terminated, and you would like to have an option of suing your employer for wrongful termination, there are a three steps you can do to enhance your potential claim:
1. Keep track of all the relevant events, communications, documents and e-mails that you believe can be helpful in proving your retaliation case. Even though your employer will have to disclose all relevant information and documentation later, when a lawsuit is filed, sometimes these documents get "lost" and getting them while you still have access to them is easier than trying to obtain them later.
2. Resist the temptation to let your employer know what you think of them. There is no point in attacking your employer if you know that it's going to be pointless. On the contrary, be as nice as you can and do the best job you can, so that later they can't claim that they terminated you for insubordination, poor performance, etc.
3. Discuss your situation with a reputable, experienced employment attorney as soon as you start suspecting that you are being retaliated against or that your termination is imminent. Your attorney can provide you with the best strategy of handling your specific situation and enhancing your potential claim, so that when you are ready to proceed, it will be easier to obtain a favorable settlement or result in court.
What can or what should you do in this situation, besides considering transferring away from the manager who retaliates against you, if possible, or looking for another job?
Suing an employer who you still work for is usually not the best course of action for several reasons, the most obvious of which is the fact that your case will inherently be of small monetary value, because you don't have any tangible damages or wage loss at that point. Also, suing the employer is not going to solve the problems you are dealing with at work at that moment. No lawsuit or a court or a jury can force the employer to be nicer and more fair to you or to stop bothering you, so a lawsuit is not going to improve your working relationship with your management.
However, if you believe you will be soon terminated, and you would like to have an option of suing your employer for wrongful termination, there are a three steps you can do to enhance your potential claim:
1. Keep track of all the relevant events, communications, documents and e-mails that you believe can be helpful in proving your retaliation case. Even though your employer will have to disclose all relevant information and documentation later, when a lawsuit is filed, sometimes these documents get "lost" and getting them while you still have access to them is easier than trying to obtain them later.
2. Resist the temptation to let your employer know what you think of them. There is no point in attacking your employer if you know that it's going to be pointless. On the contrary, be as nice as you can and do the best job you can, so that later they can't claim that they terminated you for insubordination, poor performance, etc.
3. Discuss your situation with a reputable, experienced employment attorney as soon as you start suspecting that you are being retaliated against or that your termination is imminent. Your attorney can provide you with the best strategy of handling your specific situation and enhancing your potential claim, so that when you are ready to proceed, it will be easier to obtain a favorable settlement or result in court.