The Supreme Court made two separate rulings today which strengthened employee rights to bring retaliation lawsuits.
In one case involving race, the Court said that employees who complain of racial bias in the workplace and then face retaliation can sue under an 1860s civil rights law which prohibits discrimination. A black employee had sued Craker Barrel for retaliation after he complained of racial discrimination by other Cracker Barrel supervisors and was susequently fired. The decision was 7-2.
In the other case, the Court ruled that federal employees who complain of age discrimination and are then retaliated against on the job can also bring retaliation lawsuits. Myrna Gomez-Perez, a postal worker from Puerto Rico, filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service after she filed an age discrimination complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and then allegedly “suffered a series of reprisals” from her supervisors. Her case can now move forward. The decision was 6-3.
The cases CBOCS West, Inc. v. Humphries, 06-1431 and are Gomez-Perez v. Potter, 06-1321.
Sources: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gH986T526cmCxNTdrFpj2Bpo1WTQD90U61581,
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4XLLfc71vC4&refer=home
