January 2010 Headlines: Legal Front

Gathered by Richard Tonowski, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

LEX NON TALIONIS

That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Francis Bacon

The law has done serious weeding when it comes to retaliation for doing protected EEO activity.   But retaliation cases are booming.  The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported on December 9 that retaliation awards for 2002-2008 had a median of $225,000.  Retaliation tied with discrimination for median settlement at $70,000. 

SHRM noted in a December 10 online article that Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims were also rising, and that it is easier for a plaintiff to establish an adverse action under FMLA than Title VII.  As with EEO law, a plaintiff can win on FMLA retaliation after losing on the initial complaint.

Here are two recent cases touching on retaliation, together with several cites to recent court decisions.