It Happened To Me: Retaliation

Sheila White was the only woman working at a rail yard where her primary duty was operating the forklift. Ms. White was hired on June 23, 1997, and for next several months, Ms. White put up with demeaning and retaliatory conduct targeted at her. Ms. White's boss told her that women should not be working in his department and said inappropriate and insulting comments to her in front of her male colleagues. Finally, in the fall of 1997, Ms. White complained to her company about her boss's behavior. Her boss was suspended for 10 days and was required to attend sexual harassment training.

After making her complaint, Ms. White was reassigned to different tasks ostensibly because coworkers had complained that a man with more seniority should get to operate the forklift.

Wisely, and in a timely manner, Ms. White filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claiming retaliation for her prior complaint about her manager's conduct towards her. Then, Ms. White was suspended for being insubordinate. The company conducted an investigation and determined that Ms. White had not been insubordinate and reimbursed her for the pay she lost while suspended. Ms. White was reinstated on January 16, 1998. After this incident, Ms. White filed another retaliation claim with the EEOC.

After Ms. White completed all of the EEOC procedures, she filed a lawsuit against her employer alleging that changing her job duties and suspending her without pay were retaliatory acts. On September 5, 2000, the jury agreed with Ms. White and awarded her $43,000 in compensatory damages.

Ms. White's employer appealed. The appellate court affirmed the jury verdict. Ms. White's employer appealed again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts and affirmed Ms. White's jury verdict. After fighting her case for almost nine years, on June 22, 2006, Ms. White won her retaliation claim against her employer in the U.S. Supreme Court!