There are certain laws in place in Texas that protect you if make, or help someone make, a workplace discrimination complaint and your employer takes retaliatory action against you because of it. If he or she does so, you may decide to move forward with filing a formal retaliation complaint.
Per the Texas Workforce Commission, the commission’s Civil Rights Division handles retaliation cases that result from incidences of workplace discrimination. Whether you have a strong workplace retaliation case depends on whether you and your situation meet certain criteria.
Proving retaliation
Reporting workplace discrimination falls under the “protected activity” umbrella. To have a strong retaliation case, you must show that your employer took adverse action against you after you engaged in a protected activity. Furthermore, you must be able to show that a direct link exists between your engaging in the protected activity and your employer taking negative action against you.
Recognizing adverse actions
Adverse actions might include any number of steps or efforts that impact you in a negative way. Your employer may not fire you or neglect to hire you because of your engagement in the protected activity. Nor may he or she make threats against you or your family members, demote you, cut your pay or give you negative evaluations or bad references that do not have merit solely because you engaged in the protected activity.
These protections extend to all employees who work for Texas companies that maintain workforces of at least 15 people. They also protect you if you work for a state or government entity.