December 2018

While employee reviews have obvious benefits from a Human Resources standpoint, implementing a policy that ensures employee reviews are well-crafted and accurate today, can go a long way toward insulating the company from potential liability tomorrow. Courts have consistently held that discharged or transferred employees can use performance reviews to show that they were treated differently based upon their membership in a protected class. In such “disparate treatment” cases, a performance review may establish or contradict that: 1) the employee was qualified for a position; and 2) someone outside of the protected class with similar qualifications was treated more favorably.

When deciding whether an employee was “similarly situated” to someone who may have been treated more favorably, a court will consider “whether a prudent person, looking objectively at the plaintiff and her comparator would think them roughly equivalent, and similarly qualified for the position.”

Employee reviews may be used as a tool to create evidence of work experience, or lack thereof. For example, if Employee A completed six significant projects in 2018, but Protected Employee B, who held a similar position, only completed three significant projects, employee reviews documenting the work experience of Employees A and B may be … Keep reading