For an inexperienced attorney proving unlawful discrimination in the workplace can be problematic because it is difficult. There are several general problems that arise when trying to prove a discrimination case. First, most of the witnesses to the unlawful discrimination are usually still employed by the discriminatory employer, so they are reluctant to help. Second, most of the written evidence is still in the possession of the discriminatory employer, and not the employee. Third, employers generally lie to cover-up the discrimination. For an attorney who does not know what they are doing these three problems are likely to be insurmountable. However, for an experienced employment discrimination attorney solving these sorts of problems successfully is what he/she does for a living.
A strategy for dealing with the issue that generally most of the coworker witnesses are still employed by the offending employer, so are reluctant to help, should be dealt with as soon as possible. It is common for coworkers to tell an illegally fired employee, who they had worked with for many years, that they will be a witness and are willing to help when they find out about an unjust termination of their coworker. However, nine months later the same coworker witness may refuse to return phone calls or give a statement about what they know. The reason is simple. When employees work together for several years, generally a human relationship develops whereby there is some willingness to help each other out. However, if that same employee does not see the fired employee for nine months, the fired employee loses importance to the witness employee because they are no longer regularly seeing each other. Since the fired employee becomes just a distant memory, usually dropping out of the witness employee’s life, the usual result is that the witness employee is less likely to stick their neck out and help. The answer is when you are illegally fired, retain an attorney immediately who will contact coworkers soon after the firing to get statements. Importantly, it is always much better to have an attorney involved when obtaining the statements, so they will make sure the statements contain all the relevant facts necessary to prove the case.
The problem of most of the evidence being in the possession of the offending employer can be dealt with by an aggressive attorney. Simply an attorney must be will to do the hard work necessary to obtain evidence that the employer does not want to be discovered. For a wrongful termination case, after the civil suit is filed the fired employee will have the right to request relevant documents from their former employer. Generally, if the documents will prove the illegal discrimination, the employer’s defense counsel will try to obstruct their discovery. Thus, getting the documents requires allot of work, because the plaintiff attorney must generally go to court and get a judge to order their production. Many attorneys are just too lazy, weak, or incompetent to do the work that is necessary to obtain the relevant documents from the former employer. Corporate defense counsel win allot of cases because the plaintiff attorneys that they are litigating against are just too lazy or incompetent to do the work necessary to obtain the evidence. Unfortunately, too many plaintiff attorneys signup cases and try to settle them for low amounts of money without working them up. This law firm business plan is sometimes referred to as “flipping cases”, and may result in making the firm allot of money, but it also generally results in plaintiffs getting very small settlements. The best way to get the highest settlement for a case is to do the hard work of obtaining the evidence necessary to prove the case it, when a defendant employer thinks they will likely lose if the case goes to trial, because they are aware of the evidence that has been obtained against them, they will pay the most dollars to settle the case, and generally not before.
The problem of employers lying to cover-up the discrimination is simply solved by retaining a talented attorney. A talented attorneys are good at proving someone is lying. Juror like to punish liars, so catching an employer in a lie can increase the value of the case. Generally, people are poor liars and easily caught. However, catching an employer in a lie is more likely if your attorney is talented. Therefore, the answer to deal with employers lying to cover-up discrimination, is to hire the best employment attorney you can find. Remember, just like you probably would not want the cheapest doctor to perform your brain surgery, you probably don’t want the cheapest attorney to handle your employment discrimination case.
If you live in the Los Angeles or Orange County area and believe you have been illegally discriminated against, harassed or wrongfully terminated, then you need to contact an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible. A Los
Angeles employment discrimination lawyer should be able to tell you up front whether they believe you have a viable case. Some of the best employment law attorneys in the Los Angeles area do not require any payment up front, and will only be paid if they get money for your case, no recovery no fee. Proving unlawful discrimination, harassment, or wrongful termination is difficult so you should always shop around to find the best attorney you can. Since there are so many lawyers to choose from, it is important to find a reputable Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer. One of the best ways to determine if an employment attorney is any good, is to find out about their past track record. Look for attorneys who have won jury trials in wrongful termination cases, and have received seven figure jury verdicts for their clients in the past. A history of past success is a good way to determine the likelihood of future success.
