Category: Retaliation

COVID-19 Employment Law Updates and Legal Resources (Updated 12/21/2020)

Posted on by Blanchard & Walker

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present many challenges for the Michigan workplace.  The law and circumstances are changing almost daily.  We are regularly monitoring and updating workplace rights resources we have found helpful.  Additional Blanchard & Walker Resource Pages and Factsheets provide more detailed discussion on specific COVID-19 topics:

Keep in mind this is not intended to be legal advice.  Legal rights in any individual case need to be evaluated in consultation with an attorney. Continue reading “COVID-19 Employment Law Updates and Legal Resources (Updated 12/21/2020)” →

RETURN-TO-WORK: WORKPLACE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS DURING COVID-19

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Ten Steps all Workplaces Can take to Prevent COVID-19 Exposure

For those who are working in public during the COVID-19 outbreak, effective workplace safety is a great concern. For everyone’s safety, violations should be reported to local public health departments and appropriate state agencies. Discrimination or retaliation for raising COVID-19 workplace safety concerns is prohibited.

Continue reading “RETURN-TO-WORK: WORKPLACE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS DURING COVID-19” →

STANDING UP FOR COVID-19 WORKPLACE SAFETY WHISTLEBLOWERS

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In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Azanean Petty was forced to choose between her safety and her job at the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility when her employer denied her request to wear a protective mask while working in an environment with insufficient sanitation measures and inadequate social distancing. Ms. Petty was forced to hand in her resignation after she spoke up about safety concerns and refused to work without a mask for the protection of herself, the juvenile detainees, and the other employees in the facility.

Her attorney Angela Walker filed the Whistleblower Lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court.  “Although the facility had apparently received N-95 masks for their employees, they told my client she was not allowed to wear it inside where the inmates are housed Continue reading “STANDING UP FOR COVID-19 WORKPLACE SAFETY WHISTLEBLOWERS” →

New EEOC Guidance on Illegal Retaliation (PDF link)

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The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports that retaliation claims for protected reporting and other protected conduct have overtaken discrimination claims altogether.  It’s not that hard to imagine that the only thing your employer hates more than discrimination at work is actually talking about discrimination work.  Now, the EEOC has finally issued new retaliation guidance explaining the scope of protected reporting under the federal anti-discrimination laws AND the scope of employment actions that will be considered illegal retaliation.

Read on to discover how the EEOC now thinks about WORKPLACE RETALIATION and the new guidelines they will use Continue reading “New EEOC Guidance on Illegal Retaliation (PDF link)” →

New From SCOTUS: First Amendment Protects Government Employees From Retaliation, Even if the Employer is Wrong About the Speech

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SCOTUS: Government Employees are Protected from Retaliation
SCOTUS: Government Employees are Protected from Retaliation

In a 6-2 decision that broadens First Amendment protections for public employees, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the lower court erred when it dismissed a lawsuit brought by a New Jersey police officer who was demoted after fellow officers saw him with a campaign sign for the challenger to the incumbent police chief.

As it turned out, the plaintiff in Heffernan v. City of Patterson was not actually supporting the challenger – he was picking up the sign for his bedridden mother. The defendants were not aware of this fact. They tried to use their ignorance to their advantage, arguing that the City should not be liable for retaliation since supervisors were actually wrong about Mr. Heffernan engaging in protected speech.

Writing for the Court, Justice Breyer rejected the defendants’ argument: Continue reading “New From SCOTUS: First Amendment Protects Government Employees From Retaliation, Even if the Employer is Wrong About the Speech” →