Avoid retaliation lawsuits with these 4 best practices.

• Date: 01 August 2023

For 13 consecutive years, the most common EEOC charge has been retaliation. In fiscal year 2022, the commission fielded 37,898 retaliation complaints, and retaliation was cited in a full 52% of EEOC claims.

Retaliation charges rarely stand alone. They almost always accompany claims that allege some form of discrimination, too. So, for example, what starts as a sex-discrimination or harassment lawsuit can easily morph into a much bigger retaliation suit.

And guess what: Even when employers beat an underlying bias lawsuit, they often lose on retaliation. Attorneys know that. Whenever an employee asks about filing a discrimination or harassment lawsuit, a smart lawyer will always probe for an excuse to tack on a retaliation claim.

That's why employers continue to pay an extraordinarily high price for retaliation. The EEOC recovered $220.1 million for victims of retaliation in FY 2022.

How retaliation often occurs

Organizations rarely retaliate; individual bosses often do. Many retaliation claims grow out of bad workplace relationships, the kind in which supervisors often describe the employee as "difficult" or a "pain in the neck." You'll no doubt recognize the...