The U.S. Supreme Court has just released a ruling in the case of Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, concluding that Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision extends to an employee who speaks out about discrimination while answering questions during an employer’s internal investigation.
The court concluded that Title VII’s prohibition on retaliating against employees who “oppose” unlawful conduct extends to those who “oppose” the conduct in answering someone else’s questions–not merely to employees who take the initiative by, for example, filing a bias complaint of their own.
The Court’s ruling, which overturns a previous Sixth Circuit ruling in the case, could make it easier for employees to claim protection against retaliation under Title VII. We’ll have the full story on the case in an upcoming issue of CEA.
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