Indigo is pretty much on the mark about the pursuit of discrimination
suits, based on my personal experience and those of colleagues. Even
if the State and EEOC find merit in your case, that is no guarantee of
a positive resolution. Even if it gets to court, federal judges are
mostly conservative and don't interpret the law the way we'd like.
Even if you "win" (and that means usually an out of court settlement
with no admission of wrongdoing) you will still owe attorney's fees.
And that win may be years in coming, so a person needs to find a lawyer
to take the case on a contingency basis unless you have bundles of cash
to pay for ongoing service--but, of course, you may need that cash
just to live while you're out of a job and pursuing your case. And the
settlement will be nowhere near what a person is actually due, and that
becomes even less after you give one-third to the lawyer and one-third
to the IRS. In contrast with most general law that people are familiar
with, the burden of proof is on the victim in discrimination crimes and
there is no prosecutorial assistance from any governmental agency. The
police don't come to your aid to arrest the perpetrator. You're on
your own. Your case will consume hours, weeks, months of your time,
rehashing things you'd sooner forget, listening to falsehoods about
yourself without showing emotion, telling your story over and over
again, teetering on an emotional precipice. Colleagues will abandon
you and potential employers will be suspicious of you. If you can
handle all this, if you have documentation and nerves of steel (and
someone to help support you)--go for it (I did). Be sure you know what
resolution you want (what you can live with, especially if you don't
win). Remember that regardless of what the law says, reality may be,
and usually is, far, far different.
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|