The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employee’s termination two days after he complained to his employer’s HR office raised a triable issue of material fact based on circumstantial evidence that he was subject to retaliatory termination and that the employer’s stated reason for his termination was a mere pretext.

While Internet users may presume that their anonymous posts on message boards and social media sites will remain anonymous, web surfers may want to think twice before they click “post” as a Ninth Circuit opinion in 2011 allowed the unmasking of anonymous online speakers engaged in commercial speech.