WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court unanimously held Monday that federal anti-discrimination laws protect employees from retaliation when they cooperate with internal investigations of alleged harassment.
The court sided with Vicky Crawford, who said she was fired as head of payroll for Nashville, Tenn., schools after she answered questions about what the court termed the “louche goings-on” involving her boss.
The supervisor, employees relations director Gene Hughes, was not disciplined for the alleged actions, but Crawford and two others who testified were fired.
Lower courts said Crawford was not protected by the federal anti-retaliation law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, because she had not “instigated or initiated” the complaint but just answered questions in an ongoing case.
The Supreme Court said the district court and the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals misread the law.
“Nothing in the statute requires a freakish rule protecting an employee who reports discrimination on her own initiative but not one who reports the same discrimination . . . when her boss asks a question,” Justice David Souter wrote.
The case is Crawford vs. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
The court was in an agreeable mood Monday as all five opinions issued were unanimous.
In other cases:
• The court said supervising prosecutors are protected from civil lawsuits relating to the conduct or outcomes of criminal cases, just like the lawyers who conduct the trial. The case involved a wrongly convicted man who spent 24 years in prison and wanted to sue former Los Angeles District Attorney John Van de Kamp.
• Justices agreed to hear a Maryland case focusing on how long a suspect’s request for a lawyer must be honored before police can question the suspect. The case involves a child molester who made the request for a lawyer three years before making a confession to the police.
