2022 Retaliation & Wrongful Discharge Update

Retaliation claims are among the most common form of employment litigation, either as standalone claims or when a substantive claim of harassment or discrimination fails. The scope of an employee’s protected conduct – whistleblower activity, requests for accommodation, and other forms of activity – is not limitless but it expansive. There are also complicated questions of what constitutes an adverse action by an employer and the causal connection between the employee’s protected activity and the adverse action. This program will review of recent case law and other developments impacting each of the elements of an actionable retaliation claim and best practices to avoid liability. 

•    Case law developments impacting elements of retaliation claims – protected conduct, adverse action, and causation 
•    Scope of “protected conduct,” including requests for reasonable accommodation
•    What constitutes adverse action by the employer – and when action must be taken
•    Standards for establishing causal link between protected conduct and adverse action
•    Relationship among harassment, discrimination, ADA and retaliation claims