Page 107 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

bility of being retaliated against is always there, especially in at-will states, which includes
most states, as the employer can make it appear as though you have been fired for some-
thing having nothing to do with your memo. Employers are well aware that it is costly to
retain an employment lawyer and that most employees cannot afford to do so; this is why
so many employers do get away with unlawful harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and
wrongful termination.
However, there is strength in numbers and there are no-cost complaint methods
available to employees with their city and state Human Rights Commissions as well as
with the EEOC. Sadly, however, these agencies tend to be overwhelmed with the number
of employee complaints they receive, as well as understaffed and underfunded, which can
significantly affect the attention given to employee complaints as well as the quality of
the handling of those complaints. Assessing your risk for being unlawfully retaliated
against or wrongfully terminated is not always as easy as it sounds. Anytime you assess
your risk for being fired for raising any of these issues at work, you must look honestly
at your own performance evaluation history and ask yourself if there is anything that
might justify having your employment terminated. You must be sure to double-check your
state’s particular laws and what might—or might not—exist to protect you in each and
every situation you raise in this way. You can use SHRM’s updated information to clarify
what laws may or may not exist in your state that relate to your concerns. Another excel-
lent source of information is Workplace Fairness at http://www.workplacefairness.
org/resources. 1
Additionally, it is difficult to determine how others may respond to your perfectly good
intentions to protect the company, others, and yourself from liability exposure. If there is
other wrongdoing happening at the company that you are not aware of or if there is not but
those to whom you write respond with defensiveness, competitiveness, or anger, the
response to your having raised serious concerns can cost you your job. You must know this
before you take any action, and you must assess your own life and discuss a plan with your
family, significant other, or other support network in the event that your well-intentioned
and completely justifiable actions do backfire.
Speaking up at work does take courage; however, it becomes easier to know what to do
once you have clarity about the possible risks involved and your many options for making
sure the issues are raised. You want to be sure to think very carefully through any decisions
you make to speak up and then always make sure to consider all the possible outcomes. You
want to be sure that you have accurate information about risks and whether or not you will
have any recourse should your employer take adverse action against you. You will want to
prepare for the worst by carefully documenting all conversations, dates, times, and meetings
and who is present at them, should they relate to the serious concerns you intend to raise.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, you will also want to print out and keep at home any
important e-mails that could serve as evidence of your concerns just in case those e-mails
mysteriously disappear from the company’s servers. You will also want to keep copies of any
other non-e-mail documentation that could serve as evidence of your concerns. This may
include voice mail messages, copies of memos or reports, or anything else to which you nor-
mally have access. An attorney would probably advise you to not use anything to which you
would normally not have access.

90 The H R Toolkit