How to Prove Damages From Harassment to the EEOC
When seeking compensation for losses you incurred because of workplace harassment, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) demands convincing evidence of any personal or financial harm. Consider the case in which an employee quits because of perceived job discrimination and finds a better-paying job soon after. It would be nearly impossible for the employee to claim damages -- emotional or financial -- in this case. Employees who succeed in proving economic and emotional damage in the workplace have a greater chance that the EEOC will also grant back compensation plus punitive damages. To be successful in proving workplace harassment, the claimant would be wise to follow specific EEOC guidelines.
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Instructions
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Prove economic damage. If you've quit your job with the discriminating employer, go through your documents and find old pay slips that show your previous earnings with the employer. If you're not working at the moment, prepare a statement of how much financial loss you've incurred as a result of quitting the job. If you're presently working at another job, gather your present pay slips as proof of your income. Prepare a statement comparing your current income with what you were drawing from the previous employer. Use this to prove the amount of loss you've incurred. In the event that you're still working with the discriminating employer, collect information regarding the seniority position, salary and benefits you would have acquired if you had not been discriminated against. Prepare a statement that compares this with your present position, salary and benefits. If your credit standing has been damaged, collect financial statements from your bank and credit bureaus that proves this.
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Demonstrate pecuniary or financial loss. If you quit the job, keep bills, receipts, records and checks that prove the amount you have spent toward relocation, mental-health treatment, other medical costs and job-search expenses. Provide information regarding the period when these expenses were incurred to corroborate your claim of discrimination.
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Prove emotional damage. Emotional damage can be discerned by a wide range of conditions such as loss of self esteem, anxiety, depression, marital strain or nervous breakdowns. Collect testimony from your family and friends of the emotional repercussions you suffered because of being harassed at work. If you're presently unemployed or working at a lower pay level than before, use this information to prove the embarrassment it has caused you. Back up claims of emotional damage with certification of the same by the mental-health professional you have consulted.
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Prove malicious intent. The EEOC guidelines allow you to claim punitive damages only in the event that you prove the employer acted maliciously against you with callous lack of concern for your federally protected rights. Write the details of incidents when the employer behaved in an offensive manner and the nature and intensity of harm you suffered as a result of such behavior. Provide dates for every instance to prove that the discriminatory behavior took place over a prolonged period. This will help to prove that those were not single instances, but proof of a systematic plan of discrimination.
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Explore employer actions. Find out if there have been other instances of discrimination by the employer. Collect data regarding previous instances of employees quitting on similar grounds or lawsuits filed against the employer. Maintain a record of the action or non-action by the employer following your complaint of harassment. Make a special note of any threat of retaliation you received to dissuade you from complaining.
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Tips & Warnings
If you've suffered from physical disorders such as headache, ulcers and hair loss following the harassment, find out if your physician links it to stress. If yes, procure a statement to this effect and use it to prove emotional damage.
Judgment of emotional damage depends partly on the opinion of the jury. Generally, if you prove high monetary damage, you stand a better chance of gaining more for emotional damage, too.
If your emotional damage was partly a result of personal difficulty that had no connection with the harassment by the employer, the employer may be found liable for only the compensatory damage arising from the discriminatory behavior.
