Justice

Court Expands Right to Sue Over Retaliation on the Job

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 23, 2006; Page A16

The Supreme Court made it easier yesterday for workers in most parts of the country to sue employers for retaliating against them when they complain about sexual harassment or other discrimination. The court ruled that employees may collect damages, even in some cases where the punishment did not involve getting fired or losing wages.

The decision, which had the full support of eight justices, expands the legal rights of millions of workers who are covered by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the main federal law against job discrimination, and their employers. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. agreed with the result but differed from the majority reasoning.

By setting a single national rule to define what constitutes retaliation, the court brought a measure of clarity to an area of law that generates thousands of cases per year, but had produced conflicting interpretations of Title VII in the lower courts.

Now, many retaliation cases that had previously been dismissed because the facts were not in dispute are likely to go to trial. That will encourage lawyers for alleged victims to take on more cases, and, accordingly, raise companies' costs for lawyers and defensive management practices.

In the case decided yesterday, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White , No. 05-259, forklift operator Sheila White had won $43,500 in damages and medical expenses from a federal jury, which found that her boss responded to her complaints about co-workers' sexual harassment by transferring her to a more arduous job and suspending her for 37 days without pay.

In an era when the Congress and the Court have been curtailing rights, this is a welcome expansion.