New Hampshire Retaliation Lawyers

Protecting You at Work

Retaliation happens frequently in New Hampshire. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there were almost 26,000 complaints of retaliation discrimination in the United States for 2008. Our New Hampshire retaliation lawyers want to successfully resolve your claim.

Employers retaliate against employees for a variety of actions from complaining about unlawful discrimination to making safety complaints, reporting illegal conduct to demanding overtime pay. Retaliation can result in demotion, harassment, or even termination. You should not have to suffer workplace retaliation for protecting your rights. Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. can help you.

Call our team for effective legal representation today at (603) 288-1403, or contact us online.

What Is Retaliation?

An employer may not fire, demote, harass, or otherwise “retaliate” against an individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposing discrimination. The same laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, and disability prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose unlawful discrimination or participate in an employment discrimination proceeding. Retaliation-related protection occurs when an employer takes adverse action against an individual because he or she engaged in a protected activity.

Adverse Action

An adverse action is an action taken to try to keep someone from opposing a discriminatory practice, or from participating in an employment discrimination proceeding.

Examples of adverse actions include:

• Employment actions such as termination, refusal to hire, and denial of promotion
• Other actions affecting employment such as threats, unjustified negative evaluations, unjustified negative references, or increased surveillance
• Any other action such as an assault or unfounded civil or criminal charges that are likely to deter reasonable people from pursuing their rights

Covered Individual

Employees are protected if they have opposed unlawful practices, participated in proceedings, or requested accommodations related to employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability. Individuals who have a close association with someone who has engaged in such protected activity also are covered individuals. For example, it is illegal to terminate an employee because his spouse participated in employment discrimination litigation.

Protected Activity

An employee’s protected activity includes:

• Opposition to a practice believed to be unlawful discrimination
• Complaining to anyone about alleged discrimination against oneself or others
• Requesting a reasonable accommodation based on religion or disability

If you are the victim of retaliation by your employer, the New Hampshire retaliation attorneys at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. have years of experience in successfully resolving retaliation claims. We can represent you against your employer and the insurance company at the EEOC, NH Commission for Human Rights, or in court.

Additional Resources

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• NH Commission for Human Rights
• NH Department of Employment Security
• NH Department of Labor
• National Employment Lawyers Association
• NH Supreme Court Decision Wrongful Discharge by Justice Charles Douglas

For help from our New Hampshire retaliation lawyers, contact us online or call us for free at (603) 288-1403.