(A) Retaliation prohibited. Elected city officials and city employees are prohibited from taking retaliatory action against an employee because the employee participated in an action protected under this article.
(B) Discipline. It shall be a defense to any discipline that the disciplinary action was initiated in retaliation of the employee having filed an allowable complaint or participated in an action protected pursuant to this article.
(C) Grievances. Complaints of retaliation not involving discipline shall be submitted pursuant to the grievance resolution procedure provided in § 3-1-24 ROA 1994.
(D) Proof of retaliation. In order to establish retaliation as a defense to a disciplinary action, the complainant must demonstrate that the complainant's activity under this article was protected activity and was the primary reason for the action the employee is grieving or appealing. The city may rebut this defense if it demonstrates that it would have taken the same action regardless of the complainant's participation in the activity protected under this article, and that the disciplinary action was taken for legitimate business reasons.
(E) Limitations. Retaliation shall not be a defense to a disciplinary action unless the disciplinary action was initiated within two years of the date the complainant filed the complaint with the complainant’s department or the Inspector General. The failure to raise a claim of retaliation in a grievance or an appeal shall bar any subsequent cause of action based on retaliation prohibited by this article arising out of the same set of facts at issue in the related grievance or appeal.
(G) Retaliation. If a supervisor is found to have retaliated against an employee in violation of this article, one or more of the following remedies may be ordered by the supervisor's department: (1) placement of information describing the violation of this article in the supervisor's personnel file, (2) reprimand, (3) suspension without pay, (4) demotion or (5) termination of employment.
(H) When there is no finding of retaliation, such record shall be placed in the personnel file of each supervisor accused of retaliation and in the personnel file of the employee who made a claim of retaliation pursuant to this article.
(I) Retaliation shall not be a defense to a disciplinary action or grounds for a grievance if the complainant's complaint is found (1) to have been made in bad faith, (2) frivolous, (3) to have been made for purposes of harassment or in retaliation, (4) to have contained information that the complainant knew to be false, (5) to have disclosed information without regard for the truth or falsity thereof, (6) to have contained confidential records.
(Ord. 2-2004; Am. Ord. 1-2005; Am. Ord. 30-2010)