Despite extensive public awareness campaigns, workplace discrimination continues to run rampant in Florida, with life-altering effects being left in its wake. Those who are subjected to workplace discrimination can be hit with a reduced income, lost employment, extensive re-educating and re-training-related costs, damage to their career, and emotional and psychological turmoil that can be devastating. That’s a lot to cope with, all of which is undeserved.
As stressful and fearful as all of that can be, legal action can help alleviate the losses associated with workplace discrimination. To succeed in one of these cases, though, you’ll have to present persuasive evidence that shows that your employer acted with discriminatory intent, or that broadly applied practices and procedures resulted in a disparate and discriminatory impact.
How can you build your workplace discrimination case?
Navigating your workplace discrimination case can be tough, especially as you’re trying to find stability after losing your job or being reassigned to a lower paying position. But there are some steps you can take to better position yourself for success. This includes:
- Keeping a written record: Discrimination often occurs over time. As you prepare to take legal action, it can be hard to recall all the discriminatory events in question, let alone provide clear details about them. By keeping written notes of each discriminatory action, though, you give yourself a tool to refresh your memory when the time comes to do so. This detailed information can render your workplace discrimination case more persuasive and more powerful.
- Talking to your co-workers: Discrimination doesn’t always occur behind closed doors. As a result, there’s a good chance that your co-workers have witnessed you being subjected to discriminatory behavior, or they may have been discriminated against, too, the latter of which can help you show a more prolific pattern of egregious behavior at your place of work. Be sure to gather contact information for these potential witnesses, as you may need them to testify in your workplace discrimination case.
- Protecting your record: When allegations of discrimination arise, your employer is going to seek other justifications for the actions it took. It might try to portray you as a bad employee who simply didn’t perform to acceptable standards, or that you were often late or unjustifiably missed work. Knowing your employer’s intent, you should retain all complimentary communications and favorable performance appraisals. Think through whether there’s anything else that can show the value that you provided to your employer so that you can bat back any assertions that you were a bad employee.
- Recording your damages: Even if you prove that your employer discriminated against you, you’re only going to recover the damages that you can prove. So, be sure to keep track of any lost wages, re-training and re-educating expenses, and the impact that your situation has had on your daily living and your ability to enjoy life.
Are you ready to hold your employer accountable for discriminatory behavior?
If so, then now is the time to get to work building your case. We know it can seem a little overwhelming at first, but once you have a legal strategy developed, you’ll have more direction as far as how to craft your case.
So, as you ready yourself to enter the legal arena, educate yourself as much as you can about the road ahead so that you know what to expect moving forward. Hopefully then you’ll be able to find accountability, recover compensation, and get your life and your career back on track.