U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission An employer may not
fire, demote, harass or otherwise "retaliate" against an
individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating
in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposing
discrimination. The same laws that prohibit discrimination based
on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, and
disability, as well as wage differences between men and women
performing substantially equal work, also prohibit retaliation
against individuals who oppose unlawful discrimination or
participate in an employment discrimination proceeding. In
addition to the protections against retaliation that are
included in all of the laws enforced by EEOC, the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) also protects individuals from coercion,
intimidation, threat, harassment, or interference in their
exercise of their own rights or their encouragement of someone
else's exercise of rights granted by the ADA. There are three
main terms that are used to describe retaliation.