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Make sure your paperwork is in order now – before an employee sues for bias

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Despite your best efforts to root out unlawful discrimination on your watch, there’s always a possibility that a member of your crew will someday file a potentially costly lawsuit against your organization.

Should that happen, you’ll be in a much stronger position to beat back the lawsuit if you can produce documents that disprove what that worker is alleging.

That means, of course, that you have to hone your documentation practices well before any lawsuit has been filed. But not all documents are the same. Those that are well written, legible, accurate and easily understandable will provide a much stronger defense against a bias claim than will paperwork that’s sloppy, inconsistent, or not legible.

Also remember that your documents are more likely to stand up to legal scrutiny if they adhere to certain criteria. For instance, you want the content of the paperwork to be factual, not emotional. Accurately record specific behaviors, dates, times, locations and witnesses.

Avoid the use of vague statements such as “Sally has a bad attitude.” Instead, cite the specific conduct that could help illustrate Sally’s supposedly bad attitude. Avoid emotional language, personal attacks and sarcasm. Also steer clear of describing a staff member as slow, unhappy, moody, unreliable, or dim-witted. And don’t try to interpret an employee’s behavior. Stick to the facts, and write down exactly what was said by you and the individual.

Document performance-related conversations on the same day the discussion took place. If you wait days, weeks, or months to write down what was talked about, your recollection of the conversation is likely to be less accurate.

Bonus: Be consistent. Use the same paperwork criteria and documentation practices for everyone on your crew, in order to avoid unfounded allegations of retaliation or discrimination.

(From the February 13, 2026, issue of HR Manager’s Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)