Employees often think about facing retaliation from their bosses if they report issues. However, laws exist to protect workers from this type of treatment.
Knowing more about these situations helps create a better workplace for everyone.
Reporting illegal activities
One protection for employees is the right to report illegal activities without fear. If an employee notices their company breaking the law, they can report this to the right authorities.
Employers cannot then fire, demote or otherwise punish the employee for making such reports. This protection helps employees speak up about illegal actions.
Making discrimination complaints
Employees have the right to make discrimination complaints. This includes instances of discrimination based on race, sex, age, religion or disability.
For example, an employee may file a complaint with their company’s human resources department or another agency. In this case, their boss cannot retaliate against them. This helps employees to report unfair treatment without risking their job.
Being a part of investigations
Being a part of workplace investigations is another common source of issues. If an employee gives testimony in an investigation about workplace violations, their boss cannot retaliate against them.
This protection applies whether the investigation is internal or not. It ensures that employees can help with investigations without fear of losing their jobs.
Exercising legal rights
Also, employees have certain legal rights. This includes getting to take family or medical leave and file for workers’ compensation. They can even ask for reasonable accommodations for a disability. When employees assert these rights, their employers cannot retaliate against them.
At first, employees may not realize what protections are in place for them and can hesitate to speak out. By learning more about these protections for retaliation, workers could feel more confident at work and less worried overall.