It Is A Hard Thing To Do

It Is A Hard Thing To Do
Let’s face the deck is stacked against us when it comes to discrimination cases in favor of businesses. On Monday I was reading Jillian T. Weiss blog “LGBTQ WORKPLACE LAW & DIVERSITY” about a Muslin who sued for discrimination under Title VII and lost.

I have always said proving discrimination is so hard, this case is not about trans but religious and race…

Dr Weiss JD wrote on her blog,

I find this case very interesting, as it is a reminder of the kind of evidence needed to win an employment discrimination lawsuit. Of course, the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals (covering Alabama, Georgia and Florida) is very conservative when it comes to this, but so are some others. Essentially, the Court said that showing other people who were treated differently isn't enough to show bias. Showing retaliation for complaining requires a very close connection in time between the complaint and the termination or other allegedly retaliatory action -- closer than 3 months.

And in the Florida Record…

Court rejects discrimination claims against NetJets by pilot who is Muslim
By Asia Mayfield
August 4, 2018

MIAMI  – Judge Kathleen Williams granted defendant NetJets Aviation's motion for summary judgment in a discrimination lawsuit filed by former employee Ameer Siddiqui. The court found that Siddiqui failed to adequately support his claims.
[…]
Williams agreed with the plaintiffs. Siddiqui rests his argument on NetJets' decision to place him on administrative leave and his eventual termination. Administrative leave, however, is not a retaliatory action and his termination was based on the results of multiple interviews and a board meeting, according to the ruling. Siddiqui did not demonstrate that he was treated differently than other employees in similar situations, according to the ruling.

I was moderating a panel of lawyers from the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and they were answering questions from the audience and I learned a lot one question was about a boss picking on a trans woman an one of the lawyers from the CHRO asked does he do it to the all the other employees? She said yes and the lawyer replied that it is not discrimination is the boss is an equal opportunity jerk.

Like I said it is very hard to prove discrimination unless they are really stupid and come right out and something “We don’t hire trannies!” most of the time it is covert and not overt.

One time at work the HR department wanted me to keep a log of everything one of my employees did, so I told the employee about what HR wanted me to do and I suggested to the employee also keep a log. It wasn’t a discrimination case but about taking to many smoke breaks, one of the boss said he was always on the loading dock smoking or talking to women on the production line.
It is also a good idea to keep a log if you feel that you are being harassed or discriminated. If other employees keep calling you by your old name, or use derogatory names, or you get passed over for promotions or raises or you when you talk to HR write it down in a log book with numbered pages.

If you go to a lawyer saying “they are always picking on me” the lawyer is going to ask you for the facts.

Write down in the logbook with something like “Jane Doe called me by my old and when I corrected she said okay and using my old name and when I complained to HR the manger he said get over it and stop being a wimp” put down the date, time and location... June 7, 2019, 3:00PM in the cafeteria during break the details and the more details you have the stronger case you have.

And don’t forget that there’re time limits to file.