The courts are becoming more and more aware of frivolous cases and they are trying to reduce them and to unplug the system. When a discrimination lawyer in Los Angeles, lodges a case on behalf of a client, the case will be subjected to a “prima facie” test, meaning “at first glance”. Prima facie standards may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but basically they are meant to make an immediate determination if there is cause to continue.
Gender discrimination is a prevalent actionable case and the prima facie test which is used was set in the Federal case of McDonnell Douglas vs. Greene. A four part test was set as standard and as a hurdle it must be overcome if a case is to prosper. A discrimination lawyer in Los Angeles should be on your side by this time because of the complexity of the benchmarks and whether or not they have been invaded.
The hurdles to be overcome in a gender discrimination case and the standards to be met are;
You must prove that you are a member of a protected class; protected classes are race, gender, national origin, religion, age and disability. Women are by default a member of a protected class and are protected solely by that fact.
You must prove that you qualify to hold the position that you were in. This is perhaps the most difficult hurdle as employers are well aware that termination must be accompanied by manifest criticism of your work. During the prima facie test you will be dogged into admission that you were criticized and then point to the judge that you have admitted that your superiors criticized your poor performance. To prove that you were performing your job satisfactorily you need to have recall of all your assignments and orate them in a clear and concise manner, you can rely on previous job appraisals, any commendations that you received for performance excellence and ask your co-workers, clients and customers for letters of commendation. Attempt to get copies of co-workers output, especially if the co-worker is a white male. Show the court that his work was similar to yours and he was not criticized and certainly not terminated.
The employee manual is worth its weight in gold in these situations. If you can demonstrate to your discrimination lawyer in Los Angeles that you performed up to the company’s expectations but you were being criticized for a non-objective reason such as “she has poor communication skills” then you can look for contradictions.
If you can prove adverse job action this is a plus. If the position was filled by someone outside of your protected class, these are all issues that your discrimination lawyer in Los Angles will use to prove a prima facie case and move to the next stage.
