Question

Frank, a white male, worked for Small Company in Dallas, Texas. John, a black male, also worked for Small Company. Both Frank and John performed the same duties for four years and they both had good relationship with the other employees and management. As a result of an economic downturn, Small Company had to lay off half of the workforce. John was laid off and filed a discrimination claim against Small Company claiming that he was laid off because he was black. If you were the HR manager for Small Company, what documents would you want to have in order to defend Small Company's actions and what would be the likely outcome of the case?

Answer 1

Small Company would need to show that it has taken all necessary steps of curb discrimination. HR Manager would need the following documents:

1. EEO policy - HR manager needs to show that the company has a well-established no discrimination policy which is implemented at every step from recruiting to termination of employment. Specific documented examples that Company has followed this policy would help that Small company has been abiding by the policy and law in general.

2. Appraisal forms - HR manager would need well-documented appraisal forms and discussions especially for John and his peers (such as Frank). The appraisal discussion documents are a tool using which the Company can give a business justification for terminating John's employment over others i.e. why specifically John was let go and not Frank.

3. HR manager needs to dig-up a company-wide statistics on the number of people by color, promotions given, salary raise percentage and termination numbers. The idea is to show that all these statistics are comparable irrespective of any bias. For example - Let's assume the company has 100 employees and 40% blacks. The ratings of blacks are in-line with average company ratings. Further, if 10 promotions were given out, 5 were to blacks. Such numbers would prove that Small company does not discriminate on numbers.

4. Termination discussion with John - This should be clear and precise. We need to show that John was clearly communicated his reason for termination.

The likely outcome of the case depends on the above-mentioned documents and John's testimony.

It is difficult for employers, in general, to prove that there was no discrimination done if say two employees performed equally and one who was black was let go. Considering Small company had valid reasons and well-documented business justification to terminate John over Frank, then the case would be dismissed in favor of the Small company.