There have been immense improvements in workplace protections over the last several decades, many of which are aimed at protecting employees from unfair treatment based on discrimination and harassment. Yet, despite these efforts, discrimination and sexual harassment occurs on a daily basis in Florida’s workplaces.
And while there are reporting procedures in most businesses to inform an employer of these egregious behaviors, in far too many cases protections aren’t extended to victimized workers as the system intends. In fact, in a lot of cases Florida workers who report workplace discrimination and harassment end up being retaliated against by their employer, suffering adverse employment decisions like demotion, reassignment, and termination.
This retaliation is unfair and in violation of the law. But your employer is only going to be held accountable if you act. That’s why in this post we want to look at what you can do now to start building an effective retaliation case that seeks accountability, a sense of justice, and the compensation you deserve for the wrongs that have been done to you.
Even if you’ve been blatantly cheated out of your job by retaliation, you aren’t going to be awarded compensation for simply reporting the wrongdoing. Instead, you’ll have to gather evidence to build a compelling legal case that’ll hopefully convince your employer to settle with you. If they don’t, then you should be ready to take your case to court. Here are some strategies that you’ll want to keep in mind as you build your retaliation case:
- Document everything: It can take a while for your case to weave its way through the legal system and reach a resolution. You don’t want your memory of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation to get fuzzy. If it does, then your arguments won’t be as persuasive as they could be, and you might wind up being denied the compensation you need. So, write down in detail every instance of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, and document each interaction you have with your employer about it. Also, be sure to record your losses so that you can more easily claim them in your case.
- Talk to witnesses: There are probably several other people who witnessed you being subjected to discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. These witnesses could be crucial to your case since the judge and jury probably aren’t going to simply take you at your word. So, reach out to these witnesses early, see if they’ll provide a written statement, and secure their contact information so that you can subpoena them later if you need to do so.
- Retain communications: If you’ve reported discrimination or harassment, then you probably have some sort of documented trail of your communications with your employer. Emails, chats, text messages, and voicemails can all paint a telling picture. So, make sure you find a way to retain these records, whether that be forwarding them to personal accounts so that they’re not deleted if you’re terminated or printing them off so that you have physical copies.
Don’t let your employer’s wrongdoing ruin your life
Retaliation can upend life as you know it. If you don’t act to correct the situation, your career and professional reputation can be damaged, and your financial footing can be eroded. Don’t let your employer get away with controlling that much of your life. Instead, diligently work to build the persuasive legal arguments needed to hold them accountable and recover the compensation you deserve.