Modern Day Discrimination: Subtle, Nuanced, and Harder to Prove

Before I experienced workplace discrimination, I believed that if it happened to me, I would know. Unfortunately, I’ve since realized that modern-day discrimination is rarely as obvious as we believe it will be. Instead it’s subtle, layered, and difficult to pinpoint to a single act. This is why, for many victims, the first hurdle to fighting back against discrimination is often just recognizing that they’re being discriminated against in the first place.

And even once a victim recognizes the discrimination themselves, it doesn’t mean they will be successful in getting help. That’s because getting help is less about whether discrimination happened and more about whether a victim can prove it and convince others by telling their story effectively, clearly and directly.

So in this post, we’ll discuss why it’s so difficult to recognize modern-day discrimination and what steps you can take to ensure you get the help and support you need.

The Challenge With Modern Day Discrimination

Modern day discrimination is typically made up of multiple, seemingly unconnected, incidents that appear to be either minor or easily justified when looked at individually. It’s not enough to have a list of discriminatory incidents and evidence, unless you can tell a compelling story that demonstrates these incidents are connected and collectively reveal a pattern of discrimination that caused you harm.

Unfortunately, for many employees it can be hard to recognize the pattern of discrimination even as you live it. As decisions are made that make you wonder if bias played a role or jokes feel inappropriate, you may question if you’re the problem if no one else seems to be concerned.

This is why it’s so important to begin documenting even if you’re not yet certain there is something worth documenting. If there isn’t a discriminatory pattern in a person’s behavior the documentation hasn’t done any harm. However if there is a pattern, you’re more likely to recognize it when it’s laid out for you in a timeline that shows repeated, problematic behavior leading to that harm.

Once you are certain your claims are valid, this documentation can then also become a tool for convincing others in order to get help from internal or external resources.

Telling Your Story Effectively

When seeking help, you want to explain the pattern of discrimination in a way that is clear, concise, and easy to follow for an objective, third-party. I won’t deny that doing this effectively is time-consuming and can feel overwhelming, but no one else can or will do this for you. It is not in HR’s best interest to prove your discrimination claims and lawyers / government agencies just don’t have the time.

If you want to take action and you’re not sure where to get started, JustiProof can help. We’ll guide you through each step of documenting incidents and will format and organize the report and timeline for you.

If you’re still trying to figure out if what you’re experiencing is discrimination, we created a Series on the Early Warning Signs of Discrimination to help. Plus, we have an EEOC Case Matching tool where you can type in a summary of your experience to see if any past EEOC cases match your claims.

Whatever you do and however you do it, remember that proactively documenting can be the difference between having the option to hold your employer accountable for discrimination and having no path to justice if the behavior escalates to termination.

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