Unequal (Disparate) Treatment

Disparate treatment discrimination can occur when an employee who belongs to a protected class is treated differently, specifically because of their protected class status.¹

In rare circumstances, the employee has direct evidence of unequal treatment, such as a manager who admits he terminated an employee because of race. However, in most cases, the employee does not have direct evidence and must prove their case by inference.

In a failure-to-hire case, the applicant bears the initial burden of establishing the following four criteria:

• Membership in a protected class