How Do You Prove Workplace Discrimination

If you know what discrimination is, you might want to know how you determine if you have been discriminated against under California and federal law. According to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, you have to be able to prove a few things if you want to bring a successful discrimination lawsuit against your employer.

The first thing you need to prove is that you work for a company that employs more than five employees under California law, or more than 15 employees to be protected under federal law. The second is you have to be an employee, not an independent contractor. The third is that you have to be a member of a protected class. You also have to prove that you suffered an adverse employment action like being suspended or terminated, and that the adverse employment action occurred because you are a member of a protected class. The last main thing is you have to prove pretext generally.

In most if not all cases, your employer is going to have a non-discriminatory explanation for why he took a bad action against you. For example, if you did not get a promotion over someone else, your employer might say you did not have the qualifications like the other employees did. So when your employer makes up a reason to cover up the discrimination, that is called pretext. You must be able to prove that the employer’s excuse is not true. The last thing you have to do is prove damages. You have to show the harm that you suffered as a result of the adverse employment action.