Work Advice: Is that chill in the air retaliation from my employer?

I have (had?) a good working relationship with my colleagues, and I think some or all of them are caught in the middle. I do not wish to give them any reason to believe whatever trash they might have heard. Do I say anything? I have legal representation and have submitted multiple complaints, including complaints based on retaliation.

Karla: As gut-wrenching as it is to think of people in power targeting you, it could end up working in your favor if they are. Employment lawyers (reminder: I am not one) have been telling me for years that what most often gets employers in trouble is not harassment or discrimination complaints, but the consequent retaliation. If management is taking potshots at you behind the scenes, they may well end up shooting themselves in the foot.

In an FAQ, the EEOC lists three elements necessary in determining whether retaliation has occurred:

• Prior protected activity taken by an individual. Examples include filing a discrimination complaint or assisting in an investigation. It doesn’t matter whether the allegation was confirmed or any evidence of discrimination was found.
• A “materially adverse action” taken by the employer against that individual that might deter a reasonable person from engaging in protected activity. Adverse actions can range from firing, demoting or disciplining someone to excluding them from meetings, events or opportunities they would otherwise have been invited to participate in.
• A causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse action. This can be hard to prove, but the EEOC notes several kinds of evidence that can indicate a retaliatory motive. For example, if an employee who has received only glowing performance reviews in the past suddenly receives a negative review after filing a harassment complaint, that may suggest retaliation. (The EEOC notes, however, that if your performance has worsened or you have engaged in misconduct, filing a complaint won’t automatically protect you against discipline or termination.)

So: Is your employer retaliating against you? I honestly have no idea.

The chill you’re detecting from your colleagues and the evaporation of an opportunity you were expecting could be signs of retaliation — or they could be attributed to general stress or the emergence of a stronger candidate.

It’s been months since you filed your initial complaint, so it might seem too much time has passed for the current goings-on to be related to your complaint. (It’s not uncommon for cases to take this long; the EEOC itself says it can take around 10 months to investigate a charge of discrimination.) But managers familiar with anti-discrimination law would presumably know that any drastic backlash right after you filed would immediately incriminate them, whereas a slow-burning back-channel campaign of casual insinuations and criticisms could cause you just as much harm while providing a smokescreen of plausible deniability for them.

For now, listen to your instincts, and start keeping journals and saving emails that detail what has changed and how it’s affecting you. Your legal team might be able to suggest questions you can ask at work. Be careful with this tactic, though; if you have been advised not to discuss your allegations until the situation is resolved, you have to abide by that guidance.

I realize not being able to say anything in your defense when you suspect others are tearing you down is probably the worst part of all this. But trust your legal team’s judgment on when to speak up and when to stay silent to help your case. Trust that people who know you best will assume you are acting with integrity even when you can’t talk about it. And try to keep demonstrating that integrity in everything you do.

Reader Query: Have you faced retaliation in your workplace? Share with me at karla.miller@washpost.com (unless, of course, your lawyer has advised you not to).