EMPLOYER DISCRIMINATION; DISCRIMINATION – In General; Elements of Prima Facie Case

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To demonstrate that an employer has discriminated or retaliated against an employee in violation of the Act, the charging party must show: (1) the employee exercised rights under HEERA; (2) the employer had knowledge of the exercise of those rights; (3) the employer took adverse action against the employee; and (4) the employer took the action because of the exercise of those rights, meaning that protected activity was at least a motivating or substantial reason for the adverse action. If a charging party proves each of these elements, a respondent may still prevail by proving that it also had a non-discriminatory reason and would have taken the same actions based solely on that reason, even absent any protected activity. (pp. 14-15.)