As retaliation claims rise, employers need to be on guard

A recent report from the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) includes a startling statistic about how often employees say they experience retaliation after reporting instances of sexual harassment. The organization found that 72% of workers who experienced sexual harassment said they also faced retaliation. That should be a warning to employers to make sure managers know the seriousness of retaliation charges and how to avoid them.

Disturbing findings

The NWLC looked at requests employees made for help from the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund. The report, titled "Coming Forward," is an analysis of 3,317 requests for legal help submitted to the fund between January 1, 2018, and April 30, 2020. It shows that forms of retaliation included termination, defamation lawsuits, and denial of promotions.

The report says 56% of the workers who identified their harasser said they were harassed by someone they reported to at work, and 37% said nothing happened to their harasser.

The report says research shows that individuals who make sexual harassment claims often turn first to their employers. But although 64% reported to their employer, 29% said nothing was done about the harassment. Among other things, the research shows that 21% of those claiming sexual harassment said their perpetrator had harassed multiple victims.

The reported harassment often involved serious charges of physical assault, with 36% reporting they experienced sexual assault, other types of assault, rape, or other physical harassment and 11% saying they had reported the harassment to police.

Defining retaliation