Employees’ Right to Sue Affirmed in Retaliation Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed employees who have cooperated in a sexual harassment investigation have the right to sue their former employers for retaliation if they believe they were fired because of their participation in such investigations. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals court had held that employees could not sue former employers for retaliation if they had not voiced opposition to the harassing behavior of the boss or coworker in question. But the High Court ruled such reasoning to be outside the norm. Referring to longstanding civil-rights laws, Justice David Souter pointed toward a common-sense approach to interpreting Congress’ intent in protecting workers from retaliatory firings, noting that it would be “freakish” to require someone who had simply answered questions about another employee’s allegations of sexual harassment to have voiced opposition to the harassment in order to be able to sue. “Nothing in the statute requires a freakish rule protecting an employee who reports discrimination on her own initiative, but not one who reports the same discrimination in the same words when her boss asks a question,” said Justice Souter.