Employment discrimination can take many forms. It most often occurs when an employer takes action against an employee based on his or her race, color, sex, national origin, disability, age, or religion. Many people fall into these “protected classes,” but simply feeling like you have been treated unfairly does not always mean you have a case. If you have experienced employment discrimination contact your California employment law attorney for a confidential consultation.
You need to keep in mind that it really depends on how others in a similar situation were treated compared to you. Generally, unless there are statements directly indicating a decision was made because of a discriminatory reason, lawyers will look at how other people are treated differently from you. In order to have an employment discrimination case, you have to be able to provide specific information and/or examples of how you think your treatment has been discriminatory. For example, if a person is fired for having too many absences and he or she alleges gender discrimination, legal teams will look at whether other employees have had a similar number of absences and whether male and female employees are treated equally.
Before filing a complaint, you need to make sure you have all relevant information such as termination notices, letters of discipline, paycheck stubs, documents supporting your request for reasonable accommodation (if you are claiming disability discrimination), information about witnesses, and any other information that you may feel will support your case.
According to Cornell University Law School, your employer must have at least 15 employees and you must file your charge of employment discrimination within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act.