It is common for employers to ask their employees to fill out engagement surveys. In general, these surveys may shed light on the workplace or a service related to the business. Employees are given the opportunity to weigh in on these topics, giving valuable insight to the employer. Often, employers will bill an employee engagement survey as anonymous or confidential. However, some employees report getting fired for an anonymous survey in which they criticized the company. Our Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyers discuss employee survey retaliation in more depth below.
What Is Workplace Retaliation?
Workplace retaliation occurs when an employer punishes an employee for his or her involvement in legally protected activities. Federal law designates the following as legally protected activities:
- Filing a complaint or generally opposing workplace discrimination or harassment
- Participating as a witness to a workplace discrimination or harassment complaint
- “Whistleblowing” or reporting unsafe working conditions
- Taking time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Workplace retaliation is the result of an employer taking unfair and adverse action against an employee for any of the above reasons. As outlined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), unfair punishment may include:
- Termination
- Demotion
- Reduced hours
- Reduced salary
- Reprimanding the employee
- Disciplining the employee
- Unexpected negative performance review
- Negative job or shift changes
- Refusing to promote an employee
Employee Survey Retaliation: What Are My Rights?
Employee engagement surveys often come with the promise of anonymity or confidentiality. However, due to skepticism about these promises, employees are often reluctant to fill them out. When an employee does express legitimate concerns, they may worry about retaliation. In some cases, unfair workplace retaliation can occur due to the content of one’s survey responses.
Determining whether you experienced employee survey retaliation can be difficult. This determination will depend on the details of your survey responses and whether they directly led to retaliation. For example, federal law prohibits employers from punishing employees for opposing workplace discrimination. If your survey responses express opposition to discrimination, your employer cannot legally retaliate against you. At the same time, if your employer learns of your participation in a workplace discrimination claim through your survey responses, they cannot retaliate on this basis either.
The difficult part about employee survey retaliation is proving the direct link between your responses and the adverse action taken by your employer. We recommend that you consult with an experienced Los Angeles retaliation lawyer to discuss the validity of your claim.
Discuss Your Legal Options With a Los Angeles Retaliation Attorney
The Los Angeles retaliation attorneys of Yadegar, Minoofar & Soleymani LLP have extensive experience litigating workplace retaliation claims. We have tried cases in both state and federal court, securing a record of success for our clients.
If you are the victim of workplace retaliation, contact our firm today. You can reach us by phone at (310) 499-0140 or online here.