Human Resource Department and retaliation law
Retaliation of all forms is an illegal offense under California retaliation laws. According to these laws, all forms of retaliation are prohibited within the work premises including those in Human Resource Department who complain that they have suffered discrimination or harassment, or have witnessed a colleague to have been discriminated against.
Until recently the human resource department was not protected under the retaliation law as they are the ones that carry investigations and conduct surveys to find out about cases or instances of discrimination and retaliation arising out of that within the organization. These were considered part of their routine jobs and hence, were not part of the protection.
Often, HR employees are part of the Equal Employment opportunity commission and court proceedings. They are considered to be representing the organization in cases of employee claims and hence are not protected.
Rule for Managers
The Manager rule states that the Managers will not be considered a party to protected conduct if they oppose or disagree with the actions of the employer. This rule has been applied to several cases and the managers have managed to indemnify themselves from claims arising out of retaliation.
However, the HR employees remained unprotected against the clauses of retaliation law as they were the ones actively involved in issuing warnings to employees indulging in discriminatory behavior, working on employee grievances, and investigating to mitigate conflict resolutions.
HR’s role in face of unlawful conduct
In an emerging case of a lawsuit, HR personnel has to be the first one to oppose any discriminatory behavior of sorts. An HR professional shall be deemed unprotected if he neglects any complaint of discrimination and subsequently retaliation arising out of that. The HR, therefore, has to maintain the following things-
It becomes extremely difficult for HR personnel to seek protection from retaliation as any opinion given by the HR can work in opposition to the interest of the company as well as the employees.
If HR speaks on behalf of the employee, then it is likely to upset the company official as this would signify a behavior that is detrimental towards the reputation of the organization. Hence, the HR walks on a very fine line to balance himself between the interest of the organization and the rights of the employees. This uncertainty is not only restricting to the HR employees but also extends to Directors, supervisors, and executive body members.
HR has to understand that the law protects the interest of the employees from retaliation-based activities, and they have to consider it as a part of their regular job duty to find out the truth behind such allegations. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the company to make sure that the HR personnel does not face any challenge as part of their job to listen to complaints of discrimination and do not face retaliation charges for rectifying such behavior. The HR function also includes keeping the company policies abreast with the change in the retaliation laws.
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