Retaliation Risk: Spotting and Stopping Claims Before They Start

Program Summary

In our interactive instructor-led 60-minute event, you will learn a practical framework for preventing one of the most common and most misunderstood claims in employment law: retaliation. It is the most frequently alleged basis in EEOC charges, and it can succeed even when the original complaint does not. Employees who raise a concern, request an accommodation, take protected leave, or take part in an investigation are protected from adverse treatment, and that treatment does not have to be a termination to create exposure.

This session moves beyond the basics to show how well-intentioned decisions made after a complaint can look like payback. You will learn how to recognize protected activity early, evaluate every action that follows for risk, and build a record that shows your reasons were legitimate.

You'll discover the following:

• How to recognize protected activity, including complaints that never use the words "discrimination" or "harassment"
• Which actions after a complaint can be treated as retaliation, from schedule changes to reassignment to exclusion
• How to prepare managers so they do not react, even unintentionally, to employees who speak up
• Steps for documenting legitimate business reasons so decisions made after a complaint can stand up

Program Highlights

Spotting the Risk Early: Recognizing Protected Activity

• The most common forms of protected activity, including complaints, accommodation requests, leave, wage questions, and participation in investigations
• Why timing alone can create a claim, and how to review any pending action before it moves forward
• How to identify when a decision-maker has learned of a complaint

Managing the Aftermath: Decisions That Follow a Complaint

• How to evaluate discipline, PIPs, schedule changes, and terminations that come after a complaint
• Ways to keep decisions consistent and separate legitimate business reasons from the complaint
• Language to use (and avoid) when speaking with the employee and the manager involved

Staying Protected: Documentation and Follow-Through

• How to document reasons that predate the complaint
• Check-in practices after an investigation closes
• Ways to train managers to prevent retaliation before it starts

Question & Answer Session Have your specific questions answered!

Register Now

Join us to learn how to recognize retaliation risk before it becomes a claim. You will leave with a clear process for reviewing post-complaint decisions and the documentation to back them up.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Margie Faulk, HR Compliance Advisor and E-Learning Trainer, HR Compliance Solutions, LLC

Margie Faulk is a senior-level human resources professional with over 15 years of HR management and compliance experience. A current Compliance Advisor for HR Compliance Solutions, LLC, Margie, has worked as an HR Compliance advisor for major corporations and small businesses in the small, large, private, public and non-profit sectors.  Margie has provided small to large businesses with risk management strategies that protect companies and reduces potential workplace fines and penalties for violation of employment regulations. Margie is bilingual (Spanish) fluent and Bi-cultural. Margie holds professional human resources certification (PHR) from the HR Certification Institution (HRCI) and SHRM-CP certification from the Society for Human Resources Management. Margie is a member of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE).