Employment Retaliation
SMM Law has substantial experience handling employment retaliation, from investigating allegations to defending employers at trial.
The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 and federal employment laws protect employees against retaliation for complaining of discrimination and/or opposing discrimination. Similarly, Florida’s Whistleblower Act and other federal laws protect employees from retaliation when they report their employer for suspected violations of law.
In this regard, and based on the above laws, an employer cannot retaliate against an employee because that employee engaged in activities protected by law or because that employee reported a violation of law by the employer. Retaliation can encompass many different actions, but the most prominent are termination, demotion, and harassment of employees.
In order to protect themselves from these types of claims, it’s critical for employers to have strong policies and procedures in place to address retaliation. Likewise, managers and supervisors need to be properly trained to prevent and quickly investigate allegations of retaliation in the workplace.
Retaliation lawsuits are some the most complicated cases to defend because these types of claims can survive even when the underlying discrimination or whistleblower claim is dismissed! This is why employers need experienced attorneys who can develop a winning strategy to address even the most complex circumstances.