Dealing with employment issues in the healthcare industry can be incredibly stressful. Not only can claims regarding harassment and discrimination tarnish your company’s reputation and threaten it with the potential for a large judgment, but it can also distract from the important work that your business provides. That’s why it’s imperative that you know how to effectively avoid discrimination claims and aggressively defend against them. Previously on the blog we gave some tips for implementing practices to avoid discrimination claims in the first place, but this time around we want to focus on defending your company from formal claims of discrimination.
The specific approach taken in your case will significantly depend on the facts at hand. That said, there are some general considerations that you should take into account. These include the following:
- Carefully reading the complaint: The initial pleading in your workplace discrimination case should clearly lay out the allegations against you. By carefully reading them, you’ll gain a better sense of what your company is accused of and where you may be able to find weaknesses in the claimant’s case.
- Investigating the accusations: If the claimant made allegations prior to filing their legal claim, then your company may have already conducted an investigation into the matter. But with a lawsuit filed, it may be a good idea to revisit the alleged facts to determine for yourself what’s true and what isn’t.
- Assessing your motivations: Simply because you took an adverse employment action against the claimant doesn’t mean that your company engaged in discriminatory practices. In fact, there may have been compelling business reasons for taking the action you did. For example, there may have been better qualified candidates for a promotion, or the claimant may have engaged in wrongdoing in the workplace that justified their dismissal. Gather evidence of these legitimate intentions so that you can directly counter the claimant’s assertions.
- Re-investigating the claimant: Even if the action taken by your company appears, on its face, to be discriminatory in nature, you might still be able to defeat a claim if you later uncover evidence that warrants the action taken. For example, if you discover after the filing of the claimant’s legal action that they had stolen from the company, then your initial intentions don’t matter as much. So, once a claim has been filed against your company, be sure to delve deep into the claimant’s actions while they were with your business to determine if there’s evidence you can use to your advantage.
- Assessing credibility: The claimant may have multiple witnesses lined up to testify against your company, or they might rely on just their own accounts in hopes of securing a win. Either way, you need to assess the credibility of the claimant and their witnesses to see if there’s a way to attack the reliability of their testimony. This is often accomplished by deposing anticipated witnesses and pointing out inconsistent statements to show that their account of events can’t be trusted.
A haphazardly thrown together workplace discrimination defense can leave you facing the possibility of a bad outcome. By being diligent and thorough, you’ll hopefully find a path forward that protects your interests and secures a brighter future for your company.