Can retaliators bide their time to strike back? The courts don't think so. In a circumstantial evidence case of reprisal, the retaliation has to follow closely on the heels of the employee's protected activity. Osama bin Laden's admission that he attacked the World Trade Center in 2001 in retaliation for Israel's invasion of Lebanon 19 years earlier validates the advice, "Don't get angry. Get even." It also invalidates the "close temporal proximity" element of a prima facie case of reprisal based on circumstantial evidence.   more »