Retaliation: North Carolina

Federal law and guidance on this subject should be reviewed together with this section.

Author: Michelle Rippon, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Summary

• Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who exercise their rights pursuant to North Carolina's Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act. See Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act.
• North Carolina's Persons With Disabilities Protection Act prohibits retaliation against any person covered by the Act. See Retaliation Under the Persons with Disabilities Protection Act.
• North Carolina also has an Equal Employment Practices Act which establishes as a matter of public policy that private employers with 15 or more employees are prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against employees on account of race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex or handicap. See Retaliation Under the Equal Employment Practices Act.
• Public employees are likewise protected from discrimination and retaliation. See Prohibition Against Retaliation of Public Employees.
• Public sector employees may not be retaliated against for reporting violations of federal or state law, rule or regulation, as well as a number of other specific abuses. See Prohibition Against Retaliation of Public Employees.
• Under the Workplace Violence Protection Act, employers may not discriminate or retaliate against an employee who is absent from work in order to obtain a domestic violence restraining order. See Retaliation Under the Workplace Violence Protection Act.
• Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for service in the North Carolina National Guard. See Prohibited Retaliation for Participation in the North Carolina National Guard.