But how the company decides which employees to lay off can be discriminatory. Even when poor performance is the stated reason for letting workers go, the underlying way of evaluating performance can discriminate against certain groups. Ford Motor Company, Conoco, and Microsoft are all facing large lawsuits right now from employees in protected groups who claim they were fired because ranking systems unjustly targeted them. If you think you have been fired illegally, legal experts say, the first thing to do is gather evidence to prove that the reason the company gave for firing you is not the real reason. The process is free, will make an employer pay attention to the problem, and is faster than a lawsuit.
States also have their own antidiscrimination offices.
The legal process, on the other hand, can be long, costly, and draining - although in some cases, workers who prove they were fired illegally get big money in damages. So you have to make a tough assessment about whether you're willing to hang in there for a couple of years and fight about it. The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.