Allegations of workplace discrimination can be devastating to your business. While they can certainly affect your reputation, they can also lead to contentious, drawn out litigation that can prove enormously costly if you lose your case. Such accusations may even impact your working relationships with consumers and other clients. That’s why if you or your business is accused of engaging in discriminating behavior, you have to know how to effectively defend yourself. Fortunately, you might have several options for doing that, too.
That’s why in this post we want to give a brief overview of some of the workplace discrimination defense strategies that may be applicable to your case. If you see one that sounds like it fits the circumstances of your case, then you might want to discuss that option with your attorney to see if you can develop your legal strategy in a way that will lead to a successful outcome in your case.
There are a lot of different ways to approach your workplace discrimination case. Here are a few options that you should carefully consider to see if they’re applicable in your case:
- Bona fide occupational qualification: If there are certain characteristics that are essential to one’s ability to function in the position and further the business operations in question, then an employer is allowed to select candidates who can meet those characteristics, even if they disproportionately disadvantage members of a protected class. One of the most common examples of this are lifting requirements that disproportionately affect women who apply for a job. Another example would be the requirement that those who seek to be a Catholic priest must adhere to the Catholic faith.
- Poor performance: If the employee who accuses you of workplace discrimination simply performed poorly in their position, then you might be able to successfully argue that the justification for your employment decision was motivated by their actions rather than their existence in a protected class. Just make sure you assess your worker’s performance consistently compared to everyone else.
- Breach of contract: If your employee is contracted, then you can rely on their breach of the terms of that contract to initiate an adverse employment action.
- Employee misconduct: If your employee violates company policy or engages in illegal behavior, then you’ll be warranted in taking action against them, whether that means initiating disciplinary processes or terminating them. Again, you’ll just want to be sure that you’re consistent amongst all employees, that way it’s harder for them to raise an argument alleging that your motivations were discriminatory in nature.
- The claim lacks credibility: Another effective way to defend against workplace discrimination claims is to simply attack the reliability and credibility of the evidence submitted by the plaintiff. You might be able to find inconsistencies in accounts, use disciplinary history to your advantage and rely on the rules of evidence to attack evidence and even prevent it from being used against you. Your attorney can discuss this more with you based on the unique facts of your case.
There’s certainly a lot on the line in a workplace discrimination lawsuit. That’s why it’s imperative that you diligently work to formulate a defense strategy that protects your interests and increases your chances of deflecting the allegations levied against you. That’s easier said than done, of course, which is why it’s a good idea to discuss your situation with your attorney. Hopefully then you can rest assured that you’ve done everything possible to protect yourself from false allegations.