What Can You Do About Employment Discrimination?
Discrimination cases can come up in everyday life, especially if you're a woman, a person of color, or someone who has disabilities. If you believe you've been discriminated against at your place of employment, there are steps you can take to make sure your employer understands their responsibility.
Suing Your Employer After Termination
You cannot sue your employer for unfair practices until you have been terminated. You must wait until you leave your job to file a lawsuit. The exception to this rule is if you were fired based upon discrimination and filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In that case, you may be able to sue immediately.
If you think you might have a claim for discrimination, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible. An experienced lawyer will help you decide whether you have grounds to sue.
Suing the Right Person
You have to identify the right person to sue in a discrimination claim. This means the person who discriminated against you and the person who is responsible for them. For example, if you're in accounting and someone in marketing is discriminating against you, you probably can't sue the sales manager.
Depending on what happened, you may be able to sue your manager, the other person's manager, and possibly human resources. Of course, you can also sue the person who discriminated against you.
Settling Your Case
In many cases, your employer may want to settle your case. You'll need to decide if this is something you want to do.
One decision is if you think you can get more money by going to court. Another decision is if you want your employer to have to publicly answer for what they did so it doesn't happen to someone else.
Gathering Evidence
You'll also want to make sure you have enough evidence to support your claim. If you go to court, you have to meet your burden of proof. Your word alone may not be enough.
If you're going to leave your job, forward any emails about your claim to your personal email account. Make sure you also have the contact information of coworkers who can act as witnesses. Finally, email yourself what happened and when as soon as possible so there are timestamped records of what you say happened and when.
To learn more about how to file a claim for discrimination, contact a local employment lawyer today.
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