How Does Crawford Change the Law?
· The Complaint Required to Trigger a Retaliation Claim Can Now Be Informal and the Standard for What Constitutes a “Complaint” Giving Rise to “Opposition” Is Lowered: Prior to Crawford, it was clear that an employee’s express complaint to a manager or supervisor was sufficient to establish “opposition” to an unlawful activity under the Opposition Clause. What was unclear was whether informal reports of unlawful conduct constituted opposition. Although Crawford does not set forth a definition of the term “oppose,” it does broaden the scope of what constitutes “opposition” and makes clear that an employee’s reference to harassing conduct when asked a question during an employer’s investigation satisfies Title VII’s requirements. Practically speaking, management should assume that an employee’s report of discriminatory conduct in the workplace, whether in an investigation or any other workplace setting, will give rise to anti-retaliation protection. Employers should take notice that an e
