US Supreme Court Says Oral FLSA Complaints are Protected

Resolving a split in the federal courts of appeals, the Supreme Court today held that an oral complaint of a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act is protected conduct under the FLSA's anti-retaliation provision.  Here is the interesting part:

[T]he statute requires fair notice. Although the dictionary definitions, statutes,regulations, and judicial opinions we considered . . . do not distinguish between writings and oral statements, they do suggest that a “filing” is a serious occasion, rather than a triviality. As such, the phrase “filed any complaint” contemplates some degree of formality, certainly to the point where the recipient has been given fair notice that a grievance has been lodged and does, or should, reasonably understand the matter as part of its business concerns.

Moreover, the statute prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee “because such employee has filed any complaint.” [29 U.S.C.] §215(a)(3) (emphasis added).And it is difficult to see how an employer who does not (or should not) know an employee has made a complaint could discriminate because of that complaint. But we also believe that a fair notice requirement does not necessarily mean that notice must be in writing.

* * *

To fall within the scope of the antiretaliation provision, a complaint must be sufficiently clear and detailed for a reasonable employer to understand it, in light of both content and context, as an assertion of rights protected by the statute and a call for their protection. This standard can be met, however, by oral complaints, as well as by written ones.

The full decision in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. can be read at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-834.pdf