A woman was hired by a staffing agency that leases employees to construction contractors. She was assigned to work for a construction company that is one of the staffing firm’s major clients. She was subjected to harassment and informed her supervisor at the staffing agency about the harassment. The woman was subsequently fired by the construction company for not completing a drug test under circumstances where she was required to produce the sample with the bathroom door open and in full view of male employees. The staffing agency tried unsuccessfully to get her reinstated and then briefly employed her at one of their own offices.

The woman told her supervisor at the staffing agency that she was going to consult an attorney about the harassment to which she had been subjected. The supervisor told her it “was a bad idea” and warned her “[d]o not, do not do that.” The supervisor also told the woman’s husband that she should “leave it alone. It’s not a good idea.” When the woman subsequently showed the supervisor the business card of an attorney she had seen, the supervisor immediately walked across the hall and showed it to his boss. The boss told the supervisor that “we’re done helping her.” The boss also told the woman that it would be bad if she sued the construction company because the staffing firm “has very big attorneys and is very powerful and is not going to let anything happen to [the construction company].”

The woman secretly recorded conversations she had with staffing agency managers. In one such conversation, she said “because I am suing [the construction company] they’re letting me go” to which her supervisor responded, “pretty much” and “I told you that, that’s what’s gong to happen.” Will the woman prevail in a retaliation claim against the staffing agency? Why or why not?