Termination after I submitted an harassment claim
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Termination after I submitted an harassment claim
I submitted an harassment claim back in
August then another one for the same person
two weeks ago in October the following week I
got fired. Just want some answers to why and
what I did wrong.
Asked on October 15, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, South Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
First, not all forms of "harassment" are legal. Basically, only harassment due to sex, race, color, national origin, disability, religion, or age over 40 are illegal. If you are being harassed for any other reason--e.g. politics, hobbies, movies or literature you like, which state you originally came from, or simple personal dislike, for example--that is legal and you have no protections against the harassment...or against retaliation for reporting it.
If you were harassed for one of the above reasons and you reported it, then were fired, if the firing were in retaliation, that was illegal. But even if you reported illegal harassment, you could still be fired for an unrelated but valid reason, like absenteeism, provable poor performance, insubordination, chronic lateness, etc. Those other reasons would have to be real and supported by evidence--they can't just be pretenses--but if real, would allow your termination despite reporting harassment.
If you feel that you were fired only due to retaliation for reporting one of those illegal forms of harassment, contact the federal EEOC to file a complaint; you may be entitled to compensation.
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