The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its new "Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues" on On August 25, 2016. Careful readers will be able to deduce from the section titled "Expansive Definition" that the EEOC uses an expansive definition of what constitutes protected activity. This activity is "protected" in the sense that any adverse action taken against someone for engaging in it is, by definition, retaliatory.

The EEOC Enforcement Guidance lists the following types of protected activity:

  1. Complaining about discrimination against oneself or others – This is the prototypical protected activity.
  2. Threatening to complain about discrimination against oneself or others
  3. Providing information in an employer's investigation of discrimination or harassment
  4. Refusing to obey an order reasonably believed to be discriminatory
  5. "Passive resistance" – The EEOC gives the example here of a supervisor refusing a request to dissuade subordinates from filing EEO complaints. Apparently, the refusal doesn't need to be articulated. Just not acting on the request is considered protected.
  6. Advising an employer on EEO compliance
  7. Resisting harassing behavior – The EEOC gives the example of an employee telling a supervisor to "leave me alone" and "stop it." The fact that it's a supervisor seems important here because the supervisor's knowledge is imputed to the employer.
  8. Intervening to protect others from harassing behavior – Again, the EEOC example involves a co-worker intervening to stop harassment by a supervisor.
  9. Requesting accommodation for a disability or religion
  10. Complaining that pay practices are discriminatory – There doesn't need to be an explicit reference to discrimination. If a woman says her pay is unfair and asks what men in the job are being paid, the EEOC deems that protected.

By taking a very broad view of what constitutes protected activity, the EEOC all but ensures that retaliation claims will remain the most popular charge it receives. We've previously described six steps that employers should take to protect themselves from these charges. As with so many types of employment claims, it pays to be proactive.

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