New U.S. Supreme Court Decision Regarding Retaliation

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court ruled that an employer violated Title VII when the employer terminated an employee’s fiancée three weeks after the employee filed an EEOC Charge against the employer. See Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, 2011 WL 197638 (Jan. 24, 2011). The Supreme Court confirmed that although the fiancée did not engage in a protected activity, the employer could not retaliate against the fiancée because the action might have “dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge.” This decision should not surprise an employer, but the Supreme Court did note the difficulty with determining the type of relationship needed in this circumstance. Will a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship support a retaliation claim? What about very close friends? While the Supreme Court refused to draw a line, the Supreme Court stated firing a close family member almost always equals retaliation, while firing a “mere acquaintance” almost never does. We will wait for the lower courts to draw the line between “close family member” and “mere acquaintance.” Meanwhile, employers must be mindful that courts interpret Title VII retaliation broadly and employment actions against a complainant’s relatives or close friends might constitute retaliation.

Update: U.S. Supreme Court Decides Texting Case

Last week, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision on the texting case we blogged about here and here. We will not recount the facts here, but in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court upheld a police department's search of a police officer's personal text messages on his department-owned pager. The Supreme Court held the search did not violate his constitutional rights because it said the police department's search was reasonable. Most importantly, the Supreme Court did not outline any rules about privacy of workplace electronic communications. It seems this issue will be a case by case determination moving forward. Was this decision right?