Page 22 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, or
disability. Individuals who have a close association with someone who has engaged in
such protected activity also are covered individuals. For example, it is illegal to terminate
an employee because his spouse participated in employment discrimination litigation.
Individuals who have brought attention to violations of law other than employment
discrimination are not covered individuals for purposes of antidiscrimination retaliation
laws. For example, “whistleblowers” who raise ethical, financial, or other concerns
unrelated to employment discrimination are not protected by the EEOC-enforced laws.
Protected activities. Protected activities include the opposition to a practice believed
to be unlawful discrimination. Opposition is informing an employer that you believe that
he or she is engaging in prohibited discrimination. It is protected from retaliation as long
as it is based on a reasonable, good-faith belief that the practice in question violates
antidiscrimination law and the manner of the opposition is reasonable.
Examples of protected opposition include the following:
● Threatening to file a charge of discrimination
● Picketing in opposition to discrimination
● Refusing to obey an order reasonably believed to be discriminatory

Examples of activities that are not protected opposition include the following:
● Actions that interfere with job performance so as to render the employee ineffective
● Unlawful activities such as acts or threats of violence
• • •
A protected activity can also include requesting a reasonable accommodation based
on religion or disability. For more information about Protected Activities, see EEOC’s
Compliance Manual, Section 8, Chapter II, Part B: Opposition and Part C: Participation. 3
In fiscal year (FY) 2008, the EEOC received 32,690 charges of retaliation discrim-
ination based on all statutes enforced by the EEOC. The EEOC resolved 25,999 retali-
ation charges in 2008, and recovered more than $111 million in monetary benefits for
charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits
obtained through litigation). 4

What it comes down to is this: If you are an HR professional and you realize your com-
pany has made inadvertent errors, is handling certain things improperly, or is somehow fail-
ing to prevent harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, and/or is looking the other way
while certain employees engage in unlawful or unallowable behavior, you have a number of
choices:
● You can leave and say nothing.
● You can leave and truthfully let the company know why you are leaving verbally.
● You can leave and truthfully let the company know why you are leaving, in writing.
● You can leave and do any of the above while also reporting any wrongdoing that
concerned you in writing to the relevant authorities.

CHAPTER 1 • W hy Credible Activism? 5