Retaliation Harassment Hostile Workplace Keeping It Simple

What's the difference between RETALIATION, HARASSMENT & HOSTILE WORKPLACE? To me, the line between seemed pretty fuzzy.
In this video, I share my very SIMPLE understanding of the key differences, and how getting it right (or wrong) can affect the outcome of our case.
I hope some of you who have done this will add your comments on the subject!

My AJ decided that my boss’s ongoing harassment and hostility were because she “believed” I had attendance problems. Not because of my protected EEO activity, which would have been retaliation - Not because of my disability, which would have been harassment. And not to the point of being “severe and pervasive” which would have been a hostile workplace.

NASA didn’t show any evidence that my boss’s “belief” about my attendance was based in fact, and I had strong evidence it was pretext. But my AJ believed my boss, in spite of the evidence.... even though he said he found my boss’s testimony overall wasn’t credible, to the point of recommending that she be disciplined.
I accepted it because I won a bunch of money and six years was enough for me. I wanted it over.

The difference in retaliation, harassment and hostile workplace are about our employer’s REASONS for doing whatever they did and the EFFECT their actions had.

If they did it because we participated in protected EEO activity and it would have a chilling effect on others who are thinking about reporting discrimination, that’s retaliation. If they did it because of our membership in protected class, and it’s offensive or intimidating enough to make our workplace intolerable to a reasonable person, that’s harassment.
If the retaliation or harassment get severe and pervasive enough to interfere with doing our job, that’s a hostile workplace. Those are the broad strokes.
Here are links to more details:
King & Siegel: https://www.kingsiegel.com/blog/what-...
Mehaffey-Webber: https://www.mehaffyweber.com/news/the...
Villaume & Sheik on retaliation (with some discussion of harassment & hostile workplace) https://www.defendmn.com/what-does-re...

Interesting Look at Retaliatory Hostile Workplace in Georgia: https://www.atlantaemploymentattorney...

EEOC will almost always find that an employer’s actions were predominantly driven by ONE thing. Either our protected activity OR our membership in a protected class OR a hostile intent. So it’s next to impossible to prove retaliation AND harassment AND hostile work place. Generally, if we win anything, it’s the retaliation claim.

That bothered me because I don’t think my boss had one primary reason for what she did. I think she had multiple reasons for refusing to allow me to clean up after medical emergencies FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS.

If you’re going to file a claim for one of these things, file a claim for all three and let the evidence and the legal process show which one it was…
That’s because employers who are trying to defend discrimination will do just about anything to win. If you only file a claim for harassment, for example, and your employer can show that their actions were closer to the legal definition of retaliation, you could lose, even though your employer violated the law, because you didn’t file a claim for retaliation.
If you don’t claim all three, you leave gaps they can exploit to win.
Don't give 'em that!

You guys can tell me if you agree with this, but I my take is if there’s ANY doubt about whether your employer did something illegal, like retaliate, harass you, or create a hostile workplace, go ahead and file the claim! It’s not that hard to make your prima facie case. Then let the process and the evidence sort it out.

---- All opinions are my own. Not LEGAL advice. Just me sharing my perspective as an employee who went through the EEOC claims process & won. I am not an expert at all things EEOC. While I do my best to be factual in my observations, viewers should assume that all observations or statements are ALLEGEDLY. *Never trust your fate to a YouTube content creator. Do your own research, pilot your own vessel. *

--- Background photo on thumb courtesy of searchable NASA Image Library: https://images.nasa.gov/