This article from today’s Wall Street Journal provides statistical back-up to what many practitioners have been noticing on a more anecdotal level: claims of workplace retaliation are on the rise.   Retaliation claims are often harder to defend against than the original claim which precipated it; very often, the original discrimination claim will be dismissed pre-trial, while the retaliation claim survives.

This underscores two things: first, the need to train managers to ensure that they not retaliate against employees who have engaged in protected activity like reporting discrimination, and second, the importance of dealing with problem employees early and decisively; if they are left in the workplace, they become a retaliation claim waiting to happen!

Hat Tip: Workplace Prof Blog