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    Retaliation

    Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, employers, schools, landlords, and businesses open to the public are prohibited from retaliating against you.

    If you believe you experienced retaliation, complete this form 💻.

    How you might experience retaliation


    If you:
    Retaliation may look like:
    • Oppose discrimination
    • Report discrimination
    • File a charge of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights
    • Participate in a discrimination investigation
      or lawsuit 
    • You are denied a job or housing
    • You are fired or demoted
    • You are re-assigned to a different worksite
    • Your hours are reduced
    • You are intimidated or discouraged from participating in discrimination investigation
        

    Retaliation cases

    An employer forced an employee to quit his job.

    An employee at an auto repair shop was racially discriminated against and sexually harassed by their manager. The employee repeatedly reported their manager and the company refused to take action to stop the discrimination.

    • The company retaliated against the employee by using several strategies to force the employee to quit his job. The company relocated the employee to a different store, causing him to have a longer commute.
    • The company also retaliated against the employee by reducing his pay, giving him less favorable hours, and assigning him work that resulted in lower commissions.

    A company fired an employee.

    An employee at a drywall company was sexually harassed by another employee and reported the harassment to the company five times. The company failed to take meaningful action to stop the harassment.

    • The company retaliated against the former employee by firing her because she reported the sexual harassment.

    A school prevented a student from returning.

    A student at a high school was sexually harassed and assaulted multiple times by other students. The student reported the sexual harassment and assault and the school failed to protect the student.

    Fast facts

    Employers, schools, and landlords can prevent retaliation.

    It’s important to have and enforce strong policies that prohibit retaliation and then make sure those policies are followed and the appropriate individuals are trained on the anti-retaliation policies.

    Employers, schools, and landlords can’t retaliate against someone even if they don’t agree with the report of alleged discrimination.

    This also includes reports made to human resources and not just reports made to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

    If someone already reported discrimination and later believes they were retaliated against, take these steps.

    If someone was retaliated against because they reported discrimination to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, they can complete our online form to make an additional report based on retaliation. 

    If the report has already been assigned an investigator, please contact them.

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