Retaliation at work

At will employment

Most jobs in Washington State are “at will." Your employer usually can fire you at will, for any or no reason. 

There are some exceptions to this. The employer may not fire you in retaliation (revenge) for exercising your legal rights as an employee.

What is retaliation? 

Your employer “retaliates” when it takes a negative action against you because you: 

• Complained about discrimination against you or a co-worker
• Filed a charge of discrimination against your employer
• Opposed illegal work practices or policies
• Participated as a complainant or witness in an investigation about employment discrimination, retaliation, or harassment
• Exercised another type of protected legal right at work like refusing to participate in mandatory employer sponsored political or religious events

Example 1: You make a complaint about sexual harassment. Your employer fires you for making the complaint. This is retaliation.

Example 2: You ask for reasonable accommodation of your disability. Your employer demotes you as a result. This is retaliation and employment discrimination.

Retaliation is prohibited under state law

State law makes it illegal for your employer to retaliate against you for filing a complaint of discrimination, harassment, or other workplace violations. If you make a complaint that’s investigated and your employer retaliates against you, then you can make an additional claim of retaliation against your employer. Even if the investigation determines that a discrimination violation didn’t occur but your employer retaliated against you anyway for making the complaint, your retaliation claim can continue even though your discrimination claim wasn’t validated.