Preventing retaliation and protecting people who speak up

Skills you'll practise

• Identify common forms of protected activity, including participating as a witness and requesting an accommodation
• Recognize actions that may be retaliation, including subtle ones such as schedule changes and increased scrutiny
• Check a proposed adverse action against timing, evidence and consistency before it goes ahead
• Distinguish a whistleblowing (public-interest) disclosure from a personal grievance and route each correctly
• Brief managers on what not to do after a complaint is made about them or their team

Course outline

1. 1.Preventing retaliation and protecting people who speak upVideo · 3 min
2. 2.What protected activity looks likeLesson · 14 min
3. 3.What retaliation looks like, and how to check a decisionLesson · 16 min
4. 4.Routing concerns and briefing managersLesson · 15 min
5. 5.Preventing retaliation and protecting people who speak up: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 15 questions
6. 6.Nights for Leila?Scenario
7. 7.Final exam9 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• EEOC: Retaliation (US example)
• OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program (US example)
• GOV.UK: Whistleblowing for employees (UK example)
• General HR practice: fair process, confidentiality and documentation. Your own policies and local law apply; involve HR or legal advisers