In an employment discrimination action, the primary question a Bronx employment law attorney will seek to answer is whether the decision-maker in question had any intent to discriminate in performing the action. In other words, did he or she intend to terminate you, or fail to promote you, on the basis of your protected status? Unfortunately, this is almost always impossible to prove directly because, whether or not it is true, the decision-maker will almost never admit it. For this reason, direct evidence of discriminatory intent is hard to come by. This is why any experience Bronx employment law attorney will try to uncover indirect evidence that suggest discriminatory intent on the part of the decision-maker.
Uncovering Intent
There are usually two steps a Bronx employment law attorney might use to try to find evidence of discriminatory intent.
- Look up and review the defendant’s or decision-maker’s official explanation for the action in question, whether it was termination, demotion, failure to promote, etc. This can usually be accomplished by simply asking the person, such as at deposition, why he or she made the decision. This provides an on-the-record account that may or may not be contradicted by evidence.
- Try to find evidence that indicates the decision-maker’s stated reason for the action is false. The second is clearly the most important one for an employment case and also the most difficult.
Here are some areas that your lawyer might inquire into to try to find the answer.
- What are the company’s official policies and procedures for documenting problematic employees and disciplinary action?
- Are records required to be kept?
- Are there specific tired systems in place for disciplining employees, and if so, were they followed?
- Was anything regarding your alleged performance or misconduct documented, and if so, when and by whom?
- Who played a role in making the decision? Did the decision-maker rely on information provided by another employee who may have had certain discriminatory intent? Can everyone who had a hand in the decision justify their input into the decision?
- What documents were used, such as performance evaluations or official complaints, in making the final decision regarding your employment? What do these documents indicate, and how do they compare to the account stated by the decision-maker? What do your personnel file and other documents such as performance reviews say? How do they compare to the account of the decision-maker?
- Are there similar situations in which employees in the company were treated differently?
These are just some of the avenues your lawyer might explore.
Contact a Bronx Employment Law Attorney
For more information on what to look for during your employment lawsuit, contact a Bronx employment law attorney at the Law Offices of Delmas A. Costin Jr. Call (877) 440-0854.
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