Legal Question in Discrimination Law in Texas

Years of Discrimination

My basic question is whether or not I have grounds to take my former employer to court for discrimination. I recently quit my job after more than 8 years because I could no longer stand the discrimination and hostility that I was faced with on a daily basis. I actually became ill behind the situations at work. After being over looked for promotions, I was finally given one which turned out to only be a title change. Previous persons in that position had more responsibilities and were included in the decision-making within the department. I had been with the company the longest, the only African-American, had more experience, and education among the other co-workers in the department. The only person with a degree was the Managing Director/Director of Corporate Solutions. I was the person who they gave all the work to. I was left out of meetings and given a �sad excuse� for why. Upon given my resignation, the COO of the company asked me if I felt that I had been wronged by the company and I said yes. There were many situations that occurred while I was there which I kept notes on, and this e-mail doesn�t give me the opportunity to go into details.


Asked on 6/19/03, 12:11 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Regina Mullen Legal Data Services, PLC

Re: Years of Discrimination

You probably have a claim, but first you need to get down to the EEOC IMMEDIATELY and file a claim for constructive discharge. Get an attorney first, though. After the EEO has a crack at it, if/when they decide to do nothing, you can take your claim into federal court.

I appreciate your frustration, and you probably put up with alot, but your major problem at this point is that you quit before seeking legal advice, and gave your former bosses plenty of warning as to why you were leaving.

NEVER, EVER QUIT before seeking legal advice. No matter what you put up with (short of life endangerment), you can always put up with it for another week while you interview lawyers, who can give you good advice. Plus, it's another week's pay to cover litigation expenses. Interviews cost you nothing, and can save you to infinitely more painful situation in which you have no remedy in the courts because you took actions which killed your own case.

It is much more difficult to win a constructive discharge claim of discrimination than it is to identify discrimination in the case of an firing or failure to promote. You have to be able to prove that it was so bad that you really had no choice but to quit, --and that's a hard road to go. If you found another job, it's even harder, because the judge will wonder if you've been sufficiently harmed to spend time in his/her court.

You got a lot of documentation of your claims and names and addresses of witnesses! That's a tremendous help, because any employer worth it's salt would have immediately done a vetting of all staff to ward off a claim of discrimination that they anticipated coming from you. And the e-mail trail is fabulous, because now your attorney knows where to look.

After 8 years, you job was to learn how to identify points of leverage, to create them where missing and to use them judiciously. Maybe your best strategy was to make contacts outside of the firm while doing an excellent job for the company. Get out in the community as a company representative, let non-company people see how hard you work without being obnoxious. Then, when the headhunter calls, you can negotiate for a job that will reward you appropriately. THEN, you quit and don't look back, leaving on as good terms if possible. You darned near ran the division you were in, so take those skills to someone who will appreciate them and thank this crap job for the lessons you learned.

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Answered on 6/19/03, 7:33 am
Trang Tran Tran Law Firm L.L.P.

Re: Years of Discrimination

Answer: Perhaps (depending on your particular facts of disparate treatment).

Additional factors to consider would be the company's compensation practice and the circumstance surrounding the "resignation."

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Answered on 6/19/03, 12:59 am


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