Robinson v. Shell Oil Co.
Robinson v. Shell Oil Company, 519 U.S. 337, is US labor law case in the Supreme Court of [the United States|United States Supreme Court] 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.
Facts
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. 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." Under §704 of Title VII of the Civil [Rights Act of 1964] it is unlawful "for an employer to discriminate against any of his employees or applicants for employment" who have availed themselves of Title VII's protections. The company claimed that because Robinson was now a former employee, because they fired him, he was no longer protected.
Judgment
The Court agreed with the view expressed by the EEOC. Justice Thomas wrote for the court, "EEOC quite persuasively maintains that it would be destructive to for an employer to be able to retaliate with impunity."
Significance
Robinson eventually lost his original race discrimination case against Shell Oil Company.