Employment discrimination in Cleveland, Ohio can take many forms and it’s not unreasonable for workers to expect compensation for unfair treatment.
Your unique circumstances matter greatly, and your situation will shape your legal outcome over time. With an initial free consultation, we will begin to assess whether our Cleveland discrimination lawyers can assist you with your case.
If we decide to work together, we will have another, longer consultation to come up with a detailed plan of action. We will always be transparent about our fees and detail what you can expect as a case moves forward.
TYPES OF CASES WE HANDLE
We focus on representing employees in situations involving:
- Gender Discrimination
- Wage Discrimination
- Pregnancy Discrimination
- Race Discrimination
- Religious Discrimination
- National Origin Discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
Most employment discrimination cases are analyzed by what is called a McDonnell Douglas burden shifting framework. Under this burden shifting framework, there are 3 burdens, which shift between Plaintiff/Employee) and Defendant/Employer). First Burden: Plaintiff/Employee has a burden of production with respect to a prima facie case of discrimination.
The first question to ask yourself is whether the discrimination is based on a characteristic protected by the law—called a “protected category.” It is illegal to treat someone differently under the law because of, among other things, race, gender, national origin, or disability. By contrast, one example of a frustrating, but usually legal, form of unfavorable treatment is nepotism (where an employer’s relatives are treated better than other employees).
For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act protects Americans against disability-related discrimination by making it illegal for any employer to discriminate against a qualified job applicant on the basis of his or her disability. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability is any mental or physical impairment that limits a person’s ability in a major life activity.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to engage in an interactive process with a disabled employee to determine whether the employer can provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA to the disabled employee. A reasonable accommodation under the ADA requires that the employee be able to perform essential functions of a position.
For every discrimination case, there are two parts – liability and damages. Liability is the hard part. Demonstrating liability, in the employment discrimination context, means proving that the employer discriminated against the employee. If an employee can do this, then the next question is, what is the employment discrimination case worth? Figuring out what an employment discrimination case is worth is actually fairly simple.
Let’s assume that we can show that an employer discriminated against an employee in making the decision to terminate that employee. Once we’ve established liability, we’ll calculate damages. For a discussion on how employment discrimination lawsuits work, please read this article:
https://www.g-s-law.com/blog/employment-discrimination-lawsuits-work
Sometimes a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) can come into play.
A BFOQ is a legitimate job criterion upon which employers can legally discriminate in hiring. However, to use this defense, the employer would have to show that nearly all members of the excluded class cannot perform the functions of the job. BFOQs allow discrimination based on age, national origin, and gender (sex) but not race.
The BFOQ is defense that an employer can use to justify intentional discrimination in some circumstances.
EXAMPLES:
Age: Mandatory retirement ages for airline pilots and law enforcement for safety reasons and fitness requirements.
Gender: A manufacturer of men’s clothing may lawfully advertise for male models and acting roles that require a certain gender.
National Origin: A restaurant may only hire French chefs.
Religion: A Catholic college may require that its teaching faculty be Catholic.
Questions, concerns, or want to just reach out to one of our Cleveland discrimination lawyers? Just contact our Cleveland office or call: 216.600.7994.