In an update release before Thanksgiving, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) clarified a few issues related to vaccine mandates:
- Employers may not retaliate against applicants, current employees, or former workers.
- Protected activity can take many forms, including filing a charge of discrimination or complaining to a supervisor about coworker harassment; or requesting accommodation of a disability or a religious belief, practice, or observance, regardless of whether the request is granted or denied.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits not only retaliation for protected EEO activity but also “interference” with an individual’s exercise of ADA rights.
According to the EEOC, these updates are designed to “explain and clarify the rights of employees and job applicants who believe they suffered retaliation for protected activities under the ADA, Title VII of the Civil rights Act, or other employment discrimination laws.”
