Real Story of Retaliation

Mary was hired by the Company in 1978 and was the only full-time employee in the Peoria office. In March of 1981, Mary filed a charge with the Department of Human Rights (Department) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging age and sex discrimination. She claimed she was denied training and promotion opportunities which were made available to a younger man. The company received notice of the discrimination charge on April 3, 1981. Seven days later, Mary was notified by the Company's president that she was discharged effective April 30, 1981. Mary testified that when she asked why she was being terminated, the Company's president stated that she was being fired for the letter she sent to Chicago. The only letter Mary sent to Chicago during this period was the discrimination charge submitted to the Department through her attorney.

An investigator from the Department assigned to Mary's case, recommended to the Company that it offer to reinstate her to her former position with back pay and seniority. The Company submitted a settlement offer to Mary in May. The terms of the offer included reinstatement at her former salary with full back pay and addressed her training and other work-related concerns. Mary refused to accept the offer. The only thing Mary wanted that wasn't in the terms was a raise, which the Company was unwilling to pay.

At the hearing, Department's administrative judge found that Mary was fired for retaliation. She won back her job, her seniority, and $7,000 in attorney's fees and court costs. Her $7,000 in costs all happened after the Company's offered her job back under the terms above. The company appealed the decision saying the Department did not properly consider its reasons for firing Mary and that Mary shouldn't have received $7,000 for fees because she failed to accept the Company's offer to come back. At court, the Company was found to have retaliated against Mary, but Mary lost the $7,000 in fees and partial back pay. She lost because she did not take a good offer from the Company. The offer would have placed her in as good or better position as she was when she was fired.

The moral of this story is that you should not reject a good faith offer from an employer to compensate for the discrimination. In making this decision, you need to compare how your situation was before you suffered retaliation, and what your situation would be after accepting the employer's offer. If the two are equal or if the offer makes your work circumstances better, you should probably accept the offer. Otherwise, you may have to forfeit any backpay from the date of the offer and have to pay your own attorney's fees and costs.

Heeren Co. v. Human Rights Commission, 502 N.E. 2d 17 (Ill.App.3d 1986).