Disparate Treatment Discrimination

For example, a Hispanic employee may have a disparate treatment claim based on race if he is denied a promotion despite being qualified, while his non-Hispanic coworkers receive the promotion. While this example may seem straight forward and it may appear that the discrimination here is obvious, disparate treatment claims are rarely as simple or straightforward as they seem. In the example, it is possible that the employer had a legitimate reason for failing to promote the employee – perhaps the promoted coworkers had more seniority and this employer promotes strictly by seniority, or maybe the employer claims he was not even aware of the employee’s race.

In order to prove a claim of disparate treatment, an employee must prove that he or she:

• Is a member of a protected class,
• The person accused of discrimination knew of the employee’s protected class,
• An act of harm occurred,
• And that similarly situated coworkers outside of the employee’s protected class were not subjected to the harm or were treated more favorably

Additionally, if the employer offers a non-discriminatory explanation in response to an employee’s claims, the employee must then prove that the employer’s stated reason is false, and just a cover-up for the discrimination.

Successfully pursuing a disparate treatment claim requires more than just “ticking off the boxes” for each element of a claim. Each element of the claim must be adequately proven. If you are a federal employee and believe you are being subjected to disparate treatment, the federal employee attorneys at Melville Johnson, P.C. may be able to help. Call or message us today to discuss your situation and learn how we can assist you.