Harassment Retaliation

Both state and federal law prohibit retaliation against employees who bring claims of sexual harassment. This protection exists even when the underlying harassment claim turns out to be meritless. In one case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal dismissed a female employee’s sexual harassment lawsuit because the conduct was not severe or pervasive, but permitted the employee’s retaliation claim to proceed after the president claimed he was “tired of listening” to her complaints and fired her.¹

Both state and federal law also prohibit retaliation against anyone who provides information during, or participates in, an investigation or lawsuit. Witnesses to harassment, for²