Alaska Employment Law

The 9th Circuit has affirmed a finding that a software company retaliated against an employee (denial of promotion and then discharge) for his internal complaint about national origin and religious discrimination.  In the course of doing so, the panel rejected the company’s defense that the alleged discrimination wasn’t sufficient “severe or pervasive” to qualify as Title VII discrimination under Clark County School District v. Breeden, 532 U.S. 268 (2001).

As an extension of that holding, if a person has been subjected to only an isolated incident, a complaint about that incident does not constitute protected activity unless a reasonable person would believe that the isolated incident violated Title VII.  And, therefore, an employer’s adverse action in response to that complaint would not be retaliation barred by Title VII.

In this case, the trial judge found, and the appeals court affirmed, that the employee’s complaint embraced a variety of discriminatory actions, and thus addressed more than “an isolated incident.”

EEOC v. Go Daddy Software, Inc., 2009 WL _______ (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2009)