In disparate treatment employment discrimination claims, an Irvine employment lawyer can explain that you must prove intent in order to be successful. Your Irvine employment lawyer will attempt to get proof of intent during the deposition of the decision maker. This can be accomplished in a number of ways.

Admission

Although it is unlikely, the employer or manager may admit that he or she discriminated against you because of some protected characteristic, such as your sex, race, color, religion or age. Falling short of that important admission, the employer may admit to making discriminatory comments, such as sexist or racist comments made when contemplating adverse employment action.

Rebuttal Evidence

Another tactic is to get the employer to peg down a reason for the adverse employment action that is not based on discrimination. Once the employer states the reason for the action, the lawyer may confront him or her with information that disproves this rationale. For example, the employer may claim that he or she fired you because of poor performance. When confronted with a record of favorable performance reviews, the employer may find it difficult to prove his or her former statements. If the employer admits that it is company policy to record any meaningful events related to employee discipline and there is no such documentation in your personnel file, this can also help raise the inference that the employer is not being honest.

Legal Assistance

If you would like more information about how an Irvine employment lawyer can help establish intent, contact Daily Aljian LLP.