Supreme Court Backs Workers on Retaliation Suits

The Supreme Court today issued two rulings fortifying workplace-discrimination law, finding that employees can sue over retaliation for bias complaints. In one case, an 1866 law was used to protect a black employee who alleged he was fired after complaining about a black colleague’s treatment—though he’d failed to meet procedure requirements in more modern law, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In the other case, a federal employee was found to enjoy the same protection as workers in the private sector. Retaliation has generally been protected in the past, but was broadened by the new findings. Beamed an ACLU director, “Today's decisions are appropriately grounded in the realities of the workplace.”