In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp, the Supreme Court of the United States considered whether the anti-retaliation provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applied to oral complaints. In Kasten, an employee orally complained to his company about an unlawful practice, for which he was subsequently fired. In addition to orally complaining to the company, the employee stated that he was considering suing the company based on the unlawful practices and that the company would likely lose.
In order for an oral complaint to be effective under the FLSA, the complaint must be “sufficiently clear and detailed for a reasonable employer to understand it, in light of both content and context, as an assertion of rights protected by the statute and a call for protection.” While the Court declined to elaborate on the standard further, the impact on employers is that they need to be mindful and responsive to their employee’s complaints. Careful consideration of these complaints is essential.
This decision may also affect the interpretation of other statutes such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, and the Clean Air Act, which all include similar language in their anti-retaliation provisions.
For more on this decision please check out this article by the New York Times.
This article was written by Mark S. Demorest, President & Managing Member of Demorest Law Firm.
