To establish a discrimination claim, you will need to show that your employer treated you wrongly or unfairly for being part of a protected class: mainly, because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or age (over 40 years old).

The burden for showing this type of discrimination is that the discrimination was either severe and/or pervasive. This means one solitary incident could be sufficient if it is severe enough – such as outright sexual assault for sexual discrimination – or if not, that there was ongoing discrimination that made it impossible for you to do your job properly.

If the burden of proof is met for establishing a discrimination claim, your compensatory damages (damages for pain and suffering) will be capped from $25,000 to $300,000 depending on the size of the company, and if state and/or federal discrimination claims are being brought.

Race-based claims are not subject to a compensatory damages cap. These caps do not apply to economic damages, or back pay and front pay damages, plus interest (trial is rare and if it happens it usually will not be for about 1-2 years from the beginning of your lawsuit at the earliest. Backpay covers you from the date of ending employment until your trial date).