Employee retaliation occurs when an employee has filed a complaint against an employer or a fellow employee - and then the accused strikes out against the employee. This is illegal and the employer may find themselves faced with a retaliation lawsuit. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from being retaliated against. For anyone who has filed a claim against an employer and been retaliated against, an attorney can be extremely valuable. Since retaliation is against the law, an attorney can help the victims form a strategy for a case and take their aggressors to court. Being victimized once is terrible enough, but when employers retaliate against their victims, the victims are once again abused.