Total bill for retaliation charge: 4.5 mil

Recent Supreme Court cases have shown how tough defending retaliation claims can be. And now, a new verdict shows how expensive it is, too.
Here’s what happened:
An employee of the city of Cambridge, MA, filed a discrimination suit against the city. The case was thrown out.
But for the next five years, she claimed, her manager over-scrutinized her work and gave her unfair reviews, in an attempt to force her to quit. Eventually, she was told she was getting fired, and she resigned.
She took the city to court again. But this time, a jury awarded her $4.5 million for retaliation.
That’s a tough lesson about keeping managers trained on how to handle employees who’ve taken protected action.