Being Discriminated Against By Your Employer? Know The Types Of Evidence
Posted on: 17 October 2019
Are you in a tough situation where you are being discriminated against by your current employer? You may fear taking any action toward them since you are unsure if you will come out of the situation any better. Here is some of the evidence you should have before pursuing a discrimination lawsuit.
Direct Evidence
The best thing you can have to help your case is some sort of direct evidence that proves you were discriminated against. Written communication is going to be ideal since a lawyer can see who it came from, when it was sent, and the exact words that were used.
For example, if you have been given fewer hours at your job each week due to a pregnancy and have an email from your boss saying that is the reason for scheduling changes, then you have a solid case. Being pregnant should not be a reason to reduce your hours as long as you are willing and capable of doing your job.
If a coworker has direct evidence that they are willing to share with you, that could count as well. A boss may have said that they did not want to give you hours on the schedule due to not wanting to work with someone of your race or ethnicity. That could also be used to strengthen your workplace discrimination case.
Circumstantial Evidence
When you do not have direct evidence that you can use to defend your case, you must rely on circumstantial evidence. This is when you do not have the proof to catch someone outright discriminating against you, but there is enough evidence to strongly suggest that discrimination has occurred. For instance, if you started receiving fewer hours at your job around the time that your pregnancy started to show and it became noticeable to others, you may be able to use that as a pattern to prove your case.
The key to proving circumstantial evidence is that you must show that you are capable and qualified to perform your job, which will eliminate this as a possible defense for their action as your employer. You must show what action was taken against you, which should be an action that can be documented in some form. Simply not liking you may not be enough if no additional action happened. You must also demonstrate that others were not treated the same way due to being part of a different class that was not discriminated against.
Reach out to an employment discrimination lawyer to help determine if you have a strong case.
Share