Final answer:
Retaliation under EEO laws occurs when an employer takes adverse action against an employee for engaging in a protected activity. None of the provided scenarios clearly represents retaliation, but if an employer were to take adverse action against an employee for submitting a legitimate complaint of harassment, this would be retaliation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Retaliation under EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) laws refers to any adverse action taken by an employer against an employee because the employee engaged in protected activity, such as filing a discrimination complaint or participating in an investigation. Looking at the options provided, the answer is not immediately clear without knowing the full context, as 'retaliation' implies a reactive measure by an employer against an employee's protected activity.
In the case of a dismissed employee filing a false complaint of discrimination with the EEOC, if it could be proven that the complaint was false and made with malicious intent, it would not be protected activity. Hence, action taken by the employer might not meet the definition of retaliation under the law. The EEOC targeting an employer with an investigation is part of its regulatory and enforcement duties, not retaliation. A manager promoting an employee without bias is following fair employment practices, which is not retaliatory. Lastly, an employee submitting a legitimate complaint of harassment is a protected activity. However, the act of submission itself doesn't constitute retaliation; rather, if the employer took adverse action against the employee for submitting the complaint, that would be defined as retaliation.
Given the information, while none of the scenarios directly describe an act of retaliation, the closest context would be the last one if the subsequent hypothetical scenario were implied: an employer punishing an employee for submitting a legitimate complaint of harassment.