If you experience gender discrimination — or discrimination of any other kind — in the workplace, you need to know that this practice is illegal. It does violate your rights. Do not assume that you must put up with it and accept it as part of the workplace environment.
But how do you take steps to end it? If you’re considering a legal case against your employer, what do you need to do to show that the discrimination really happened?
One thing that can help is writing out a diary of events — even though it may be frustrating to go back over these things in your mind at a later date. The diary can help you keep things straight, it can help you avoid forgetting a significant event and it can show an outside party — the court — what really happened. It needs to include things like:
- The date of the event
- The type of discriminating conduct or speech you experienced
- The approximate time that it occurred
- The location where it took place
- All parties who were involved
- Any witnesses who may have seen what happened
You can also use this diary as a building block for the case. For instance, maybe you want to have the witness give their side of the story. You don’t want to forget in the months or even years between the event and the case. Writing it down ensures that you’ll remember who was there and what they saw.
As you move forward with this process, be sure you look into all of your legal options.
