- Part Number:1987
- Part Number Title:Procedures for Handling Retaliation Complaints Under Section 402 of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
- Subpart:1987 Subpart A
- Subpart Title:Complaints, Investigations, Findings and Preliminary Orders
- Standard Number:
- Title:Investigation.
- GPO Source:
A complaint will be dismissed unless the complainant has made a prima facie showing (i.e., a non-frivolous allegation) that a protected activity was a contributing factor in the adverse action alleged in the complaint.
For purposes of determining whether to investigate, the complainant will be considered to have met the required burden if the complaint on its face, supplemented as appropriate through interviews of the complainant, alleges the existence of facts and either direct or circumstantial evidence to meet the required showing, i.e., to give rise to an inference that the respondent knew or suspected that the employee engaged in protected activity and that the protected activity was a contributing factor in the adverse action. The burden may be satisfied, for example, if the complaint shows that the adverse action took place within a temporal proximity of the protected activity, or at the first opportunity available to the respondent, giving rise to the inference that it was a contributing factor in the adverse action. If the required showing has not been made, the complainant (or the complainant's legal counsel if complainant is represented by counsel) will be so notified and the investigation will not commence.
[79 FR 8628-8629, Feb. 13, 2014; 81 FR 22540-22541, April 18, 2016]