One of the worst feelings to have is the feeling of not being safe in a place that you have to go to every day. If you feel this way about your workplace out of fear of retaliation for something you reported, there are a lot of ways to alleviate that fear, as there are protections against you having to suffer from retaliation. Consider the following suggestions on how you can fight retaliation in the workplace.
Keep Copies of Conversations
From reporting a higher-up for suspected fraud to reporting a coworker for sexual harassment, there are plenty of reasons that you might be facing retaliation, and regardless of what your reason might be, you need to keep evidence of anything that might be associated with any retaliation that you might experience. Most of the time, the largest amount of evidence lies in conversations between the person who initiated the retaliation and the victim of the retaliation.
It might feel terrifying having to keep the conversations instead of deleting them, but if they are your only piece of evidence, they are worth keeping. If you have been instructed to delete the conversation, you can archive it or otherwise make it look like you have complied if it is absolutely necessary. Another way you can gather evidence is to make recordings of all of your in-person conversations with the retaliator. You will need to make sure that it is legal to do so first, but as long as it is, you should have no trouble getting even more evidence.
Do Not Sign NDAs Born From Retaliation
There are a lot of ways that a retaliator will try to silence you, and one of the most popular ways is to try to get you to sign an NDA, or Non-Disclosure Agreement, so you legally cannot say anything about their misdeeds. However, they are mistaken in thinking that an NDA born from retaliation is legally binding. If someone is trying to get you to sign an NDA, and you suspect that it is in retaliation to something that you have reported, do not sign it. You might be afraid of what will happen to you, especially if they threaten your job, but there is no reason to fear. If you are fired because someone is retaliating against you, you can get legal assistance.
Get Legal Help
Any wrongful termination lawyers in Pittsburgh will tell you that it is completely illegal to fire someone out of retaliation. Employers can only legally fire someone when they do something egregious enough to warrant their position being terminated, and retaliation is nowhere on that list of acceptable and legal reasons. If you think you have been wrongfully terminated, you will need to seek the appropriate legal counsel, as they know all of the specifics that come with filing a wrongful termination suit.
All of the evidence you kept will come in handy, as that will prove that you have a case. If it is possible, you might be able to gather witnesses in the form of previous employees that were wrongfully terminated for similar reasons and who were afraid to come forward beforehand. The statute of limitations varies, but regardless of what they may be, it is better to pursue legal action as soon as possible, as the case can take a long time to get resolved.
It is never good when one is facing retaliation, and if you are experiencing this situation, you have more power than you might think you do. Keep these suggestions in mind, and no matter what you do, do not believe that there is no way for you to win against your retaliator.