“Attorneys keep rejecting my case and telling me to come back when I’ve been fired.”

This is the single most common thing I hear from employees who reach out after the discrimination has started, but before they’ve experienced career impacting harm.

I’m using fired, because that seems to be the way most lawyers phrase it, but for clarity, the harm doesn’t have to be termination. It could be a demotion, a promotion denial, being paid less than your peers.

But whatever it is, the lawyers are communicating that you need to experience harm before they’re going to be able to help you.

I’ve received this email, so I know it’s disheartening. It feels dismissive. Especially because you’re trying to prevent the harm and they’re telling you that they won’t help you until the harm happens.

The frustration you’re feeling is valid, but I’ve also found it helps to understand the why behind lawyers saying this. And no, it’s not just that they’re all greedy and don’t care about helping employees. Though, in some cases, that can be true too.

But most of the time? It comes down to something employees are rarely taught: what it takes to hold companies accountable, how cases are evaluated by lawyers and agencies like the EEOC and what lawyers understand about the process that you don’t.

Most importantly, understand that a lawyer telling you to come back isn’t the same as a lawyer saying they don’t believe you’re experiencing discrimination. If anything it signals they see evidence you are being discriminated against and that’s why they’re telling you to come back once you’ve experienced harm.

I'm going to assume you’re experiencing discrimination and you’ve already tried escalating internally without success. However, if you haven’t, this can also be a reason for having your case turned down as lawyers typically only take on clients who have exhausted their internal escalation options in an attempt to resolve the conflict.

If you have escalated and either nothing has been done or too little has been done, it’s probably a pretty safe bet to say that your company is not willing to make the changes you feel are necessary even after you’ve given them all the information and evidence you have that you’re being discriminated against.

So let's talk about what's required to force a person or entity to change when they’re unwilling to do so of their own accord. Typically you need either an incentive that motivates them to act or the threat of consequences the company would rather avoid.

Since most employees aren't in a position to offer incentives grand enough to persuade a company, we'll focus on the threat of consequences.

Maybe you already know this, but your company likely has lawyers on staff, and sometimes even additional external lawyers, constantly working to monitor for threats and limit legal and financial risk.