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THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT QUIZ

The correct response to Question #10 is : TRUE

Retaliation occurs when any adverse employment action is taken against an employee because he or she has engaged in some form of "protected activity." "Protected activity" can include, but is not limited to, filing a complaint, testifying in an administrative proceeding, or supporting another person's complaint.

Changing work assignments could be seen as a retaliatory adverse employment action. Some other examples of adverse employment actions might also include demotion, decrease in or docking pay, applying tougher performance standards, poor performance reviews, refusing training or overtime opportunities, and spreading rumors about the employee.

HOWEVER, a supervisor should not fear disciplining a truly poor performing employee simply because he or she has recently raised a complaint. Before taking disciplinary action against the employee, ask yourself this question: "Would I be taking this action if the employee had not filed a complaint?" Then be able to demonstrate that given an identical situation with a similarly situated non-complaining employee, you would have made the same decision.

Always be prepared to defend your employment decisions by documenting the basis of those decisions with valid performance data.

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