Retaliation only applies if the employee was engaging in protected activities, like filing a Department of Labor complaint, requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability, refusing to discriminate against another employee, or initiating a lawsuit against your employer. And, just like the federally protected classes that would make the firing illegal, “making fun of a dude who drunkenly wrapped himself around a tree” isn’t a protected activity. So no, it’s not retaliation.
This thread just makes me so concerned about people’s knowledge of their lack of protection from businesses. It’s wild that people think they can’t be fired for a whim in the states. Even protected classes and things like that are super difficult to prove in court.
Yup, proving things like protected classes usually requires either a super stupid manager (who puts it in writing, or says it in front of coworkers who are willing to testify for you), or proving a sustained pattern of behavior. Because a manager can just go “I didn’t like their vibes” and get away with it most of the time. Because disproving a soft subjective thing like “bad vibes” is basically impossible. Instead, you need to prove a pattern of behavior, like all of their “bad vibes” firings within the past two years have been black people. But getting access to that kind of thing will require a subpoena and lots of investigative work.
No, OP definitely described retaliation which is illegal.
You’re right in the rest though.
Retaliation only applies if the employee was engaging in protected activities, like filing a Department of Labor complaint, requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability, refusing to discriminate against another employee, or initiating a lawsuit against your employer. And, just like the federally protected classes that would make the firing illegal, “making fun of a dude who drunkenly wrapped himself around a tree” isn’t a protected activity. So no, it’s not retaliation.
This thread just makes me so concerned about people’s knowledge of their lack of protection from businesses. It’s wild that people think they can’t be fired for a whim in the states. Even protected classes and things like that are super difficult to prove in court.
Yup, proving things like protected classes usually requires either a super stupid manager (who puts it in writing, or says it in front of coworkers who are willing to testify for you), or proving a sustained pattern of behavior. Because a manager can just go “I didn’t like their vibes” and get away with it most of the time. Because disproving a soft subjective thing like “bad vibes” is basically impossible. Instead, you need to prove a pattern of behavior, like all of their “bad vibes” firings within the past two years have been black people. But getting access to that kind of thing will require a subpoena and lots of investigative work.