Robinson v. Shell Oil Co.
| Robinson v. Shell Oil Company | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Full case name | Robinson v. Shell Oil Company |
| Citations | |
| Court membership | |
Robinson v. Shell Oil Company, 519 U.S. 337 (1997), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that under federal law, U.S. employers must not engage in workplace discrimination such as writing bad job references, or otherwise retaliating against former employees as a punishment for filing job discrimination complaints.
Background
The case involved a former Shell employee, Charles T. Robinson, who claimed Shell Oil Company fired him from his sales job because he is black. While his race discrimination lawsuit was pending, Robinson applied for a job with another company who contacted Shell seeking a reference. Shell gave Robinson an unfavourable rating and said it would not rehire him. According to an article published by The Washington Post in February 1997, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission submitted a "friend of the court" brief, saying that if former employees were not protected, they "would be chilled from taking action to report or oppose discrimination."[1] The article went on to say that the Court agreed with the view expressed by the EEOC. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court, "EEOC quite persuasively maintains that it would be destructive to [the purposes of anti-bias law] for an employer to be able to retaliate with impunity."
Subsequent developments
Robinson eventually lost his original race discrimination case against Shell Oil Company.
References
- ↑ Biscupic, J. Court Protects Ex-Employees From Retaliation; Decision in Maryland Case Affects Firms Subjected to Job Discrimination Complaints. The Washington Post, February 19, 1997, p. A6.