After the EEOC finishes its investigation and issues a right to sue letter, a lawsuit is filed. Employment discrimination claims brought under federal laws are usually filed in federal court, but they can be brought in state court. After the suit is filed, there is a period called discovery. This is the investigation phase. Lawyers for both sides request documents and submit written questions to the other side, take statements from witnesses, subpoena documents from non-parties, and take depositions. Depositions are where the lawyers question witnesses under oath with a court reporter taking the testimony down. If it is your case, you have the right to be at all depositions and should be there if you can. Discovery periods generally run from six to eight months, but may be longer or shorter.
After the discovery period ends, lawyers for employers most always file a request with the court for what is called summary judgment. This is where the employer is asking the court to throw the case out without a trial. Grounds may be technical, such as that the suit was filed too late or that the employer does not have enough employees to be subject to the discrimination law, but usually the grounds are that the employee does not have enough evidence to prove discrimination. There has not been a lawyer for employers born yet who did not think he could win summary judgment in every case, so if you file a discrimination lawsuit and do not settle it, you will most likely have to go through summary judgment.
Getting past summary judgment can be difficult in discrimination cases because there are many defenses to employers and proving someone’s intent to discriminate is often hard. The court will view the evidence in the favor of the employee because it is trying to determine whether a jury could find discrimination if it believed everything the employee offered. So, if the employer says that the employee was terminated because he cussed the supervisor out, and the employee denies this, the court will accept the employee’s version at summary judgment unless there is some reason indicating that the employee’s version is clearly unbelievable. If summary judgment is denied or not pursued, the case will bet set for a trial