COURSE DESCRIPTION
Retaliation claims are among the most common form of employment litigation, either as standalone claims or when a substantive claim of harassment or discrimination fails. The scope of an employee’s protected conduct – whistleblower activity, requests for accommodation, and other forms of activity – is not limitless but it expansive. There are also complicated questions of what constitutes an adverse action by an employer and the causal connection between the employee’s protected activity and the adverse action. This program will review of recent case law and other developments impacting each of the elements of an actionable retaliation claim and best practices to avoid liability.
- Case law developments impacting elements of retaliation claims – protected conduct, adverse action, and causation
- Scope of “protected conduct,” including requests for reasonable accommodation
- What constitutes adverse action by the employer – and when action must be taken
- Standards for establishing causal link between protected conduct and adverse action
- Relationship among harassment, discrimination, ADA and retaliation claims
Speaker:
Ryan Derry is a partner in the San Francisco office of Paul Hastings, LLP. His practice includes all aspects of employment litigation and counseling, including employment discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wage and hour claims. He represents employers in multiple jurisdictions in state and federal courts as well as in administrative proceedings against individual and class claims. He has been named as a California Super Lawyer Rising Star for multiple years. Mr. Derry received his B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, with honors, in 2006.