If you complained about unlawful conduct in the workplace and your employer has punished you for doing so, you have been subjected to workplace retaliation. Retaliation occurs when an employer takes an ‘adverse employment action’ against an employee because the employee exercised their legal rights. Those rights can include submitting a harassment claim, complaining, participating in an investigation, reporting a safety code violation, reporting fraudulent activity, taking family leave for pregnancy, etc. An ‘adverse employment action’ can include: ·      termination, ·      salary reduction, ·      demotion, ·      exclusion from staff meetings, ·      unjust negative employment reviews, ·      denying an employee a promotion, or ·       creating a hostile work environment to force the employee to quit.