If you make a report about harassment, safety concerns or other issues in your workplace to a government authority, you may worry about how your employer will react.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains that you have complete protection under the law from your employer doing anything to make you feel like making a report was wrong.
Retaliation actions
Retaliation may not always be obvious. Certain things, such as your employer firing you or demoting you, are clear retaliation tactics. However, employers know the law and that they cannot do something like this that clearly is a reaction to your actions.
Employers will often do things that are not so obvious, which is where you may become confused. An employer may make the work environment unwelcoming or give you new duties to specifically make you dislike your job. Your employer may transfer you to a different position that you clearly do not like or start reprimanding you more often for things that were never before an issue.
An additional issue
Confusing things even more is the fact that your employer can still reprimand you and even fire you after you make a report as long as it is not retaliatory. Your employer would have to show evidence behind the move or decision it makes that demonstrates it was not in retaliation to your report but rather as a result of your work performance.
If you have had a history of discipline on the job, then your employer may let you go on the basis that your work history is not satisfactory. It would be difficult for you to show this was retaliatory even if it happens right after you make a report.
