Retaliation

A Recent Federal Appeals Court Decision Serves as a Reminder of the Breadth of the FLSA’s Anti-Retaliation Protections

November 30, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Many workers probably know that they can pursue legal action if they incur retribution from their employer for speaking out against discrimination or harassment. However, Title VII isn’t the only law with a prohibition against retaliation. You may also be entitled to hold your employer accountable if they punished you for taking part or being “about to” participate in opposing illegal practices under the Family and Medical Leave Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act. If that’s happened to you, you should contact a knowledgeable Atlanta retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

While not a case from Georgia, a recent retaliation matter in the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals shows how broad the coverage of the FLSA’s anti-retaliation provision can be.

The events culminating in the decision started in early 2019. That was when M.M., a former employer at an oil and gas production corporation, filed a class action complaint under the FLSA. The case accused the employer of failing to pay overtime compensation that the workers had earned.

A North Georgia Worker Recovers a $190K Retaliation Settlement Following Her Termination from Her Administrative Assistant Job

October 31, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Victims of workplace sexual harassment face many potential harms, both professionally and personally. Too many times, they have to fear that merely speaking up and calling out the harassment they endured will harm them, through job loss or other adverse employment action. When that happens, it’s called retaliation, and it’s against the law. If that has happened to you, you should get in touch with an experienced Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

C.B., an administrative assistant working for DeKalb County’s Facilities Management Department, allegedly endured both that kind of sexual harassment and that sort of illegal retaliation.

The assistant’s boss, the deputy director of facilities management, liked her work and positioned her for a promotion and a raise. The deputy director also apparently was sizing the assistant up for something more than a promotion.

A Georgia Brewery is Ordered to Compensate Two Workers It Fired After They Questioned the Employer’s Pay Practices

September 30, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

One would hope that business owners and managers would always conduct themselves with professionalism and circumspection when dealing with inquiries from their employees. Reality tells us something different. Too many employers, when approached by an employee about issues like the employer’s pay practices, eschew restraint in favor of vindictive, vengeful retaliation. When that happens to you in the course of your job, do not be discouraged, as what your employer has done may entitle you to, with the help of a knowledgeable Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer, recover compensation for a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

One such incident occurred here in North Georgia. Allegations against a DeKalb County brewery were numerous, including misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

However, one alleged transgression drew particular attention from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The allegation involved the treatment of two brewery employees who emailed the brewery’s owner to inquire about their wages and the employer’s rules about tip sharing.

How Your Employer’s Failure to Apply its Policies Consistently May be the Key to Success in Your Retaliation Case

September 9, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Many times in life, things are not necessarily what they seem on the surface. That can be true in the law, too. Your discrimination, harassment, or workplace retaliation case might, to some, not seem like much on the surface but, in the eyes and hands of a skillful Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer, it might become something more — a much clearer violation of employment law and a powerful claim for relief.

One scenario occurs when an employer’s adverse action, in a vacuum, seems permissible but, when viewed in the larger prism, demonstrates an inconsistent application of its policies motivated by illegal retaliation or discrimination. A real-life case from outside Georgia offers a clear illustration of this.

The employee, A.W., was a man displeased with the new overtime policy his employer had unilaterally instituted, which called for the posting of a sign-up board upon which workers signed up for overtime shifts. Workers who signed up for a shift and then did not work the shift faced potential discipline, which was a change from the old rules.

What You Do — and Don’t — Need to Win a Retaliation Case in Georgia

August 31, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Speaking out against sexual harassment is fraught with many concerns and potentially negative consequences for a lot of workers. Many justifiably fear that speaking up will negatively impact their careers, up to and possibly including the loss of their jobs. When that happens, that’s something called retaliation and it’s just as illegal under Title VII as sexual harassment is. If you’ve suffered because you spoke out, you have a right to take action. An experienced Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer can help you to get the most out of your case.

Here’s an example of what we mean. L.A. was a woman who worked for a county sheriff’s office in suburban Atlanta for nearly two decades, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. In 2018, the sheriff decided to reassign the lieutenant to the county jail. In a meeting about the reassignment, the lieutenant told her supervisor — for the first time — about a problematic incident that occurred during her previous stint working at the jail.

Allegedly, a male coworker (who outranked her) called her into an empty office, whereupon he “began kissing her with his mouth open.” According to L.A., the incident happened without warning and, at the time, she told only her husband.

Standards of Causation for Federal Retaliation Claims in Georgia

August 10, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

There are a wide array of pieces of information that can help your employment discrimination case. Many may involve factual issues and tend to prove the discrimination you’ve alleged. Other are matters of law, like the degree of causal connection you need to succeed in your type of discrimination case. A knowledgeable Atlanta employment discrimination lawyer is someone who can combine your factual evidence with an in-depth knowledge of the law to give you the total representation you need.

M.L.’s race discrimination case was one where issues of causation were key. She was also a Black woman over the age of 40 and a mammographer at an Air Force base in Florida, In 2016-18, she allegedly experienced discrimination at her job with the Air Force.

By the summer of 2016, the mammographer’s supervisor was a non-Black woman under the age of 40. That supervisor allegedly engaged in a variety of forms of discrimination that included: berating her, failing to give her feedback as part of a negative performance evaluation, and criticizing her for failing to complete non-mandatory tasks.

The Impact of a New Federal Appeals Court Decision on Retaliation Cases in Georgia

July 15, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

An important new ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose decisions directly control federal lawsuits in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) clarifies how expansive federal law’s prohibition against retaliation really is. The decision illustrates that the provision is quite broad, meaning that it can be a vital tool for workers who’ve been harmed at work for standing up against discrimination or harassment. If it’s happened to you, don’t delay in contacting an experienced Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer who can advise you about how best to pursue your case.

The employee and plaintiff in the case, J.P., was a senior HR manager at an Alabama paper mill. Before starting at the paper mill, she was an HR worker for a hospital network.

In June 2017, the HR manager allegedly informed the mill’s plant manager that “she believed two black employees… may have a valid race discrimination complaint.” The complaint alleged that, in response, the plant manager told J.P. “you are not going to tell me how to run this mill!”

A North Georgia Insurance Agency Owes $50K After Firing an Employee for ‘Inquiring About Pay’

July 8, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Employees should be free to assert their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including asking questions about their employers’ pay practices. Unfortunately, too often, asserting those rights comes with a job-related price, up to and including losing one’s job. When that happens, that may represent illegal retaliation, which is itself a violation of the FLSA. Whether yours is a minimum wage case, an unpaid overtime case, a retaliation case, or a combination of the above, an experienced Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer can help you select the best ways to take action.

It’s unclear if a Stone Mountain insurance agency’s insureds always get the “good neighbor” treatment but, according to the U.S. Labor Department, one employee did not, and it’s going to cost the employer.

A federal court recently ordered the insurance agency to pay $50,000 for engaging in retaliation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, a worker at the agency “requested information about compensation.” The worker didn’t get answers to their questions; instead, the worker received a letter of termination, according to a press release from the Labor Department.

Successfully Pursuing a Retaliation Case in Georgia, Even in the Absence of a Winning Claim for Discrimination or Harassment

May 31, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

With any field of professional knowledge, from engineering to law to medicine to finance to plumbing, certain misconceptions can take root. That’s why, when you have a problem that involves a field of specialized knowledge, it pays to retain a seasoned pro. The right professional can provide you with the correct answers to your issues. That’s especially true when it comes to the benefits an experienced Atlanta workplace retaliation lawyer can provide in your retaliation case.

Many laypeople might look at a case where a worker alleges they were harmed by discrimination and/or harassment, along with retaliation, and assume that if the underlying discrimination/harassment case fails, the retaliation claim would necessarily go down with it. And they’d be wrong, as a recent retaliation case from Columbus, Georgia shows.

The plaintiff, H.H., was a woman working at a Columbus “wholesale club” store. After the store hired A.O., a Hispanic man, he allegedly began sexually harassing the woman, making numerous inappropriate comments about the woman’s sex life.

Blackballing and Other Types of Covert Employment Actions, and the Significance They Have in Your Georgia Retaliation Case

May 10, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

A situation where an employer terminated or demoted an employee shortly after that employee made a complaint about illegal discrimination or harassment is one possible example of impermissible retaliation. However, what can constitute actionable retaliation goes way beyond that. If your employer took punitive action against you because you spoke up against illegal employment practices, then you should get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta employment retaliation case.

As an example of how broadly the law against retaliation stretches, there is this case from neighboring Alabama, in which the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose decisions control federal cases in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) entered a decision in January.

The worker, J.S., was an administrative assistant working for a local police department in suburban Birmingham. In the summer of 2015, the police chief denied the assistant’s request to take a day off using her compensatory time. As a result, the assistant made a formal written complaint to human resources accusing the chief of sex discrimination. The complaint alleged that the chief treated J.S. differently than the department’s male employees when it came to approving the use of earned compensatory time.