Rogue managers can lead to retaliation claims

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Abstract: If managers, inadvertently or otherwise, make employees feel like they can’t complain about discrimination, the legal implications can be huge. This article discusses a case in which a woman filed a gender discrimination complaint with her company — and was later warned by a superior that, if she wished to keep her job, she “needed to become invisible” and “stay off the radar for the next six months at a minimum.” The court ruled that she had suffered a materially adverse employment action, but a sidebar discusses a similar case with a different outcome. Maron v. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, No. 12-1146, Jan. 31, 2013 (4th Cir.) Hernandez v. Johnson, No. 12-50338, Feb. 22, 2013 (5th Cir.)