Whether you believe you were fired, demoted, denied a promotion or harassed because of your disability, race, gender or age, you ultimately have to prove your case. It is not enough to show, for example, that you were fired and are female. You must prove, either by direct or circumstantial evidence, that the employer’s motive was gender discrimination. Many legal cases have been decided by courts and many journal articles have been written on this subject.
In most cases there is no direct proof. Your termination letter will not say “I wanted a man for this job”. The good news is that the United States Supreme Court allows for proof by using comparison evidence. For example, if you were fired because of gender discrimination (Female) and Male employees were not fired for the same actions, you might have a claim.
to read the EEOC handout for tips on the claims procedure.