The federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws prohibit punishing job applicants or employees for asserting their rights to be free from employment discrimination, including harassment.  Asserting these rights is called “protected activity,” and it can take many forms.  For example, it is unlawful to retaliate against applicants or employees for: filing or being a witness…

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I cannot say this enough to employers: Punishing an employee who participates in an EEOC charge will only multiple your problems. Michael Baldonado, EEOC San Francisco District Director Employer retaliation can lead to government fines, criminal charges, and employee lawsuits. Whistleblowing includes reporting unacceptable labor and employment practices to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A…

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The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the power to enforce many whistleblower protection laws. This authority includes many laws, such as the Affordable Care Act, that might not seem to relate to the administration’s traditional role. The laws OSHA enforces contain whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions. These laws generally provide that employers may not discharge…

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Managers may be the last to know about an ethics issue in the business. It is important to give employees a way to alert management to potential problems without fear of retaliation. When establishing a whistleblower policy, consider the following: Whistleblower Reports are a Gift While bad news is never enjoyable, it can stave off…

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The following excerpt from Kristy Grant-Hart’s How to be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer: Learn the Secrets of Influence, Motivation and Persuasion to Become an In-Demand Business Asset (Brentham House 2015) was written with compliance officers in mind. But her words are equally applicable to executives and managers who want to make ethics and law…

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