Virtually all employers are now "equal opportunity employers," which means that if you have the education, background and experience that an employer is looking for you are on equal footing with other qualified candidates. Your rights under the law state that you cannot be denied work because of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or even age. However, if you feel that you were denied employment based on one of these protected categories, you can sue the employer. It will be difficult to prove, but one way to prove your case is with the use of statistics. Here is how your employment law attorney will use statistics to prove the validity of your accusations and prove that your case has merit.
Investigate and Collect Data
The employment records of a company may be subpoenaed, or your lawyer and his or her team may interview everyone working for the company as they enter or leave the building. It may be easier just to get the employment records, but if the company does not wish to comply with the legal investigation, then the alternative is to conduct interviews of everyone as they arrive or leave for work. Then your lawyer will create sets of data showing the ages, races and genders of the current employees working for the company in question. Because employers are not allowed to ask or record religion or sexual orientation, the data collected will be the first step in analyzing a possible legal problem.
Establishing a Pattern or Collecting More Data
If, after creating sets of data and cross-categorizing the sets a pattern is discovered, your lawyer may have established reasonable evidence that supports your claims. If you were not hired because you are an Asian female or because you are a male in his late fifties, for example, and the current data suggests a hiring trend that excludes you, then your lawyer can use this data and statistical analysis to prove your case. However, if there is not enough evidence to support your claim (e.g., you are either gay or you openly practice a specific religion and this may be the cause for not getting the job), then your lawyer would have to start over or take a different tactic, such as individual interviews of the current employees in order to acquire more personal data about the company's employees that could support your claim.
Finding Substantial Statistical Evidence
Once your lawyer has uncovered some substantial statistical evidence that you were denied a job that you definitely were qualified to do, he or she can create readable charts to go with his or her findings. Then the statistical data and the charts will be presented in court during the hearing. Be prepared not to go to court, however, since most companies would prefer to settle out of court. Proving that a company consistently has participated in unfair and illegal hiring practices may be enough to get the company to re-examine things without a hearing.
Share18 March 2016
Over the years, I have learned several lessons the most difficult ways possible. One lesson that I have learned is to never try to handle legal issues without legal representation working with you. I have faced fines and penalties that could have been greatly reduced had I hired an attorney to represent me in court. This blog will show you several ways you could benefit from paying for the legal fees associated with hiring an attorney anytime a legal issue may arise. You will also find examples of how things can go terribly wrong if you don't hire an attorney.
