The Employer’s Legal Advisor

Discrimination Cases

Direct proof of a discriminatory intent on the part of the employer is unusual. Direct proof most often takes the form of verbal or written remarks that indicate a discriminatory motive on the part of the person making the comments. Instead, most discrimination claims are based on circumstantial evidence. The great preponderance of these claims fall under either the “disparate treatment” model or the “adverse impact” model.

In a “disparate treatment” claim the plaintiff complains that her treatment by the employer was different from that of “similarly situated” employees because of her status as a member of a protected class (age, race, sex, disability, etc.). There is another form of “disparate treatment” claim in which ...