Takeaway: Employees raising workplace complaints often express concern about their ability to continue in their current employment, and sometimes suggest that they depart with severance. An employer must take great care in responding to any such requests, particularly those following a workplace complaint. While circumstances may indeed recommend the parting of ways, an employer should continue to treat an employee who requests severance as a worker in good standing, unless and until the employee announces an unequivocal resignation or the parties have entered into a separation agreement.
An employee's request for severance after complaining of sexual harassment and retaliation was not an offer to resign that could be accepted by the employer, ruled the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing in part a lower court's grant of summary judgment to the employer.
The plaintiff was employed as a senior manager at an online home furnishings company when, in August 2019, she e-mailed her former manager about alleged inappropriate physical and verbal conduct toward her by a co-worker. After the manager forwarded her e-mail complaint to the company's human resource division, an HR employee undertook an investigation of her complaint. After completing that investigation, the HR employee told the plaintiff on Sept. 16 that her allegations had not been substantiated.
The next day, the plaintiff reported to the HR employee that her supervisor had threatened to take her off his...
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