Yes, you read the headline correctly. Could this be a payback from Chief Justice John Roberts for flubbing the presidential oath? If it is, great!The Supreme Court today unanimously held that federal anti-discrimination laws protect employees from retaliation when they cooperate with internal investigations of alleged harassment.What also must be noted is the gender difference in reporting this decision. CBS Network news airs before NBC in the DC area, so if I'm home I try to catch both. CBS anchor Katie Couric reported the story. Guess who didn't? That's right the male anchor Brian Williams on NBC.
The court sided with Vicky S. Crawford, who said she was fired from her longtime job in charge of payroll for the Nashville school system after she answered questions about what the court termed the "louche goings-on" involving her boss.
The supervisor, Metro School District employees relations director Gene Hughes, was not disciplined for the alleged actions, but Crawford and two others who testified against him were later fired for unrelated charges.
Lower courts said Crawford was not protected under the federal anti-retaliation law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, because she had not "instigated or initiated" the complaint, but merely answered questions in a case already underway.
The Supreme Court said the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit misread the law.
"Nothing in the statute requires a freakish rule protecting an employee who reports discrimination on her own initiative but not one who reports the same discrimination in the same words when her boss asks a question," Justice David H. Souter wrote.
The case is Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
The minute I read the report of this in the Washington Post I knew it would probably have greater impact, and meaning, for women. Looks like Couric agrees.
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