Workplace Retaliation

If you’ve observed and reported workplace violations, but your employer has taken adverse action against you for doing so, you may have whistleblower rights. Usually, you are protected when you blow the whistle, but the way that you do it can make all the difference, so it’s important to get legal advice first.

Once you have blown the whistle or asserted your rights, your employer cannot take adverse action against you by taking adverse action.

What’s an adverse action?

When you get fired for blowing the whistle, that’s pretty obvious retaliation.

Other employers try a different strategy. To avoid any suspicion of retaliation, they may use less obvious forms of retaliation, like:

Decreasing your work hours
Taking away job responsibilities
Reducing your wages
Denying you a promotion
Subjecting you to harassment.

Whistleblowers have rights too.

Massachusetts has a variety of laws protecting whistleblowers. These include laws that prohibit employers from taking adverse action against employees who blow the whistle and laws that provide for monetary damages for employees who have been retaliated against.

If you suspect your employer is taking adverse action in order to retaliate against you, do something about it.