Adverse Employment Action

An adverse employment action is any action that affects continued employment or pay, such as terminations, demotions (with less pay), suspensions without pay, and pay cuts.

The ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals with disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees when the accommodation is not overly burdensome to the employer. The ADA also prohibits employers from terminating an employee because the employee requested a reasonable accommodation. 

In the employment context, assault refers to an act by an individual, supervisor, coworker, or even a non-employee (like a customer), that creates a reasonable fear of imminent harmful or offensive contact in an employee.

The doctrine of at-will employment means that an employee may quit at any time and an employer can fire the employee at any time for any reason except for a discriminatory or retaliatory one. An employee is not required to give two weeks notice and an employer may terminate the employee unexpectedly. 

In the employment context, battery refers to an intentional and wrongful physical contact with an employee without their consent. Battery goes beyond mere touching; it implies a use of force against someone else that is offensive or harmful.

A causal connection -- the third element of a prima facie case of retaliation -- is a link between the employee's protected activity and the adverse action taken by the employer. An employee may show a causal connection if a termination follows protected activity within three months and the person who terminated the employee was aware of the employee's protected activity at the time of termination. Crucially, the employee must show the termination occurred because the employee engaged in protected activity. 

In the EEOC process, a charge of discrimination initiates the a claim and must be filed before any lawsuit can be brought against the employer for discrimination under most federal employment discrimination laws. The filing of a charge triggers an investigation by the agency into the allegations of discrimination. The EEOC will issue a "right to sue" letter to the employee to pursue the claim in court. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on protected class and prohibits employers from taking adverse employment actions against employee who complain about conduct that is unlawful under Title VII.

In the employment context, disparate treatment happens when an employer treats an employee less favorably because of a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, sex, or age. To prove this type of claim, an employee must establish that the employer had the intent to discriminate.

An employee handbook is a document that outlines an employer's policies, procedures, and expectations, and, in the anti-harassment section, designates a person or department responsible for receiving employee complaints regarding workplace violations.

When an employee files a charge of discrimination, the EEOC investigates the complaint and issues the employee a right to sue letter after a 180 day investigatory period. 

False imprisonment in the employment context refers to a situation where an individual or supervisor unlawfully restricts an employee's freedom to leave a certain area or location. This can occur when a supervisor uses physical barriers, threats, or coercion to prevent an employee from leaving the workplace or a specific part of it against their will and without legal justification. Such actions must be intentional and without the employee's consent, and there must be no lawful basis for the detention.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a U.S. federal law that provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for serious medical conditions or paternal leave and prohibits an employer from terminating an employee because the employee requested FMLA.

The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 (FCRA) is a state law that mirrors the protections offered by federal laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the ADA.

Workplace harassment occurs when an employee is subjected to unwanted, offensive conduct or comments targeted towards the employee's protected class. Harassment at work does not include a boss who his bullying, rude or mean. An employee who is subjected to a boss who is subjected to generalized cursing and yelling is not subject to harassment under discrimination law.

A hostile work environment arises when unwelcome conduct based on protected characteristics becomes so severe or pervasive that it alters the conditions of employment and creates an abusive work atmosphere.

A materially adverse action is the type of adverse action that would dissuade a reasonable employee from engaging in protected activity in the first place if the employee knew the conduct would follow as a result. 

Mediation in employment law is a voluntary and confidential process where a neutral third-party mediator facilitates discussions between an employer and an employee (or former employee) to resolve a lawsuit or a potential lawsuit.

A formal document created by an employer to outline an employee's performance issues and set specific goals and timelines for improvement. A PIP is often used as a step before potential employment termination if performance does not improve as specified in the plan. An employer may terminate the employee even if the employee meets the goals of the performance improvement plan.

During the EEOC process, the position statement is the employer's response to the employee's charge of discrimination. The position statement typically explains that the employer is an equal opportunity employer, and will provide its employee handbook explaining the same. The position statement will also refute the factual allegations raised by the employee. 

A protected activity is when an employee reasonably and in good faith reports what the employee believes is unlawful conduct internally or to an external body. An employee may also engage in protected activity by opposing a supervisor's sexual harassment or by requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability. Other protected activities include complaining about not being paid the minimum wage, not being paid overtime, inquiring about or filing a workers' compensation claim, requesting or inquiring about FMLA, filing a police report for workplace violence, or whistleblowing by disclosing or threatening to disclose unlawful employment practices. 

A protected class is an employee's race, color, religion, national origin, age (40+), sex, pregnancy, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, military status, or disability. 

Race discrimination in the employment context occurs when an employer treats an individual of one race less favorably than a similarly situated individual of another race. For instance, an employer may terminate an employee of one race after two absences, but only suspend an employer of another race who was absent three times.

Reasonable accommodation refers to adjustments or modifications provided by an employer to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the employee's job without causing an undue burden to the employer. 

A resignation is when an employee terminates their at-will employment relationship voluntarily. 

A retaliatory hostile work environment is when an employee suffers mistreatment based on retaliation for protected conduct when the mistreatment well might have dissuaded a reasonable worker from reporting discrimination in the first place. 

42 U.S.C. § 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 requires employers or individual supervisors to ensure that all persons regardless of race, color, or ethnicity have equal rights to make and enforce contracts in the employment context.

"Severe or pervasive" is a legal standard used to determine whether a behavior creates a hostile work environment under anti-discrimination laws. For conduct to be considered severe or pervasive, it must be either extremely harmful on one or a few occasions (severe) or less severe but recurrent to the point that it permeates the work environment and alters the conditions of employment (pervasive). This standard is used to assess the seriousness of workplace harassment, including sexual harassment, and racial harassment, requiring that the behavior be more than a trivial annoyance or an isolated incident, unless shockingly egregious.

A severance agreement is a contract between an employer and an employee that outlines the terms of the employee's departure. Typically, it includes provisions for severance pay and may cover benefits, confidentiality clauses, non-disparagement agreements, and release of claims against the employer. In exchange, the employee often agrees not to sue the employer for wrongful termination or other employment-related issues. Severance agreements are used to facilitate a smooth transition for both the employer and the departing employee.

A tangible employment action is a significant change in employment status or conditions, directly resulting from the decision-making authority of a supervisor. This includes hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, undesirable reassignment, a decision causing a significant change in benefits, compensation changes, and work assignment changes.

Temporal proximity in retaliation refers to the close timing (3 months or less) between an employee's protected activity and the employer's adverse employment action creating the causal connection element in a retaliation claim. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on the employees protected class or because the employee complained about a violation of Title VII. 

A whistleblower in the workplace is an employee who is fired because the employee reported illegal conduct in the workplace. 

Workers' compensation retaliation occurs when an employer terminates an employee because the employee suffered a workplace injury and inquired or began the workers compensation process. 

Retaliation in the workplace occurs when an employer terminates an employee because the employee engaged in protected activity.