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When faced with workplace discrimination, retaliation, or harassment, most people — including myself — are intimidated by and fearful of escalating. Many employees wonder whether escalating their concerns to HR or company leadership is worth it, especially if they believe their company’s culture is more inclined to ignore complaints — even valid complaints — than act.
And none of this is without cause. My personal experience demonstrated that escalating to HR and leadership not only leads to more disappointment and isolation, but increasing retaliation. Unfortunately though this doesn’t mean choosing the alternative route — staying silent — is a guarantee of a better outcome. I have heard from many who tried to stay silent and keep their heads down who still ended up in an increasingly hostile environment that resulted in their termination. However, in this second scenario, saying nothing only made it easier for the discriminating party to manipulate the victims environment, damage the victim’s reputation and push the victim out without fear of consequence.
The sad truth is, once discrimination starts, a happy ending for you is unlikely — at least at your current employer. Having spoken to hundreds of victims of discrimination, this remains true across big and small companies and whether the victim was just hired or has been employed for years. This is why I encourage you to remember that by speaking up you are just doing what is necessary to protect yourself and your career.
By escalating to those with the power to protect you — HR and leadership — you not only give them the opportunity to do that, but if they fail to help you or take action, you have the evidence you need to prove the company itself was negligent and contributed to the discrimination and retaliation you experienced.
In this post, we’ll dive into more detail about why escalating internally is so important.
1. Give the Company a Chance to Correct the Issue
Escalating concerns gives your employer the chance to correct the issue. If the company takes corrective action, it may resolve the issue without legal intervention.
Why It Matters: Giving the company a chance to address the issue can sometimes lead to resolution without needing to go to court.
2. Establishing That the Company Knew and Did Nothing
In most workplace discrimination cases, you must prove you exhausted the internal complaint process. This requires proving that your employer was aware of the issue, failed to act and that their negligence allowed the harm to continue.
Why It Matters: The companies failure to act proves that they should be held liable for the harm done.
3. Documentation of The Company’s Failure To Act
When raising these concerns, HR or leadership is likely to want to have the conversation verbally, which is fine, but I also encourage you to follow-up by stating your claims and the evidence you have in an email after. This not only ensures there is no miscommunication, but it also creates a paper trail should you need to take legal action in the future.
Why It Matters: Each time you escalate, the date / time is captured, creating a timeline that ties escalations to ongoing discrimination and retaliation.
4. Additional Retaliation Claim
Unfortunately, retaliation is a common experience for employees who report discrimination. The one piece of good news (if you can call it that) is the retaliation — demotion, exclusion from projects, or even termination — strengthens your legal claims.
Why It Matters: Multiple escalations followed by negative treatment help connect your complaints to an additional retaliation violation.
Conclusion
Taking legal action against your company is a serious step, but it’s one you should have the power to decide and that almost always requires escalating and exhausting your options internally.
Want help preparing to go to HR? JustiProof helps you document your claims and build a case that it makes it more difficult for HR to ignore.
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