Ohio and federal laws have established you deserve to work free from unlawful discrimination. If your employer does not abide by the set laws, you can take legal action.
Naturally, you can only have a successful claim if you can prove the discrimination occurred, which can be challenging. Some things you must prove to have sufficient evidence for an employment discrimination case are listed here:
Membership in a protected class
It’s necessary to prove you are part of a protected class. For example, if you claim disability discrimination, you must have proof you are disabled. The same applies to any type of discrimination you claim.
You have the job qualifications
You must also show you were qualified for the job or position you were passed over for. To do this, show you met job performance expectations and other related information.
An adverse employment action occurred
If the other two points are established, you must show you experienced some type of adverse employment action related to discrimination. This includes things like being denied a bonus or raise, being fired, demoted or excluded from professional training or development.
Another employee received preferential treatment
Sometimes, you may not have been obviously discriminated against, but you can provide proof an employee with a similar skillset and capabilities, but not in your protected class, received some type of preferential treatment.
It can take experienced legal skills to prove these kinds of things to the satisfaction of the court, but there are legal tools available that can help the process along. Once you have met these obligations to establish your cause of action, that puts your employer in the position of having to defend their actions.
If you’ve faced workplace discrimination (or think you have), get an unbiased take on your legal options.