When your employees verbally complain, you better listen!
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that oral complaints about wage and hour violations are protected under the anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The facts of Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp, as summarized by Eric Meyer writing at The Employer Handbook, are as follows.
Kasten claims that he orally complained that Saint-Gobain located its timeclocks such that workers were not receiving credit for the time they spent putting on and taking off their work clothes – contrary to the FLSA’s requirements. Kasten says that Saint-Gobain discharged him because he orally complained to Saint-Gobain officials about the timeclocks.
The Supreme Court determined that Kasten’s oral complaint was protected by the anti-retaliation provision of the FLSA (read the decision here).
The decision in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. is the latest of three opinions so far this term dealing with anti-retaliation provisions in employment discrimination law. The other two opinions – Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP and Staub v. Proctor Hospital dealt with the anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII and USERRA, respectively. In this week’s installment of The Proactive Employer Podcast, we’ll be discussing what the decisions in these three cases mean for employers, and highlight some of the key retaliation issues these three cases raise.
The podcast will air on BlogTalkRadio at 8:30 AM this Friday and will available for on-demand listening at The Proactive Employer website and via iTunes.