Tip: Proving you were individually excluded from a job based on your race or color may be difficult. It is often helpful to obtain statistical data to show that the employer's practices are illegal. For example, if 10 positions for an engineering job were filled and none of the jobs was offered to a minority (or a woman), that may be sufficient to infer that the company violated the law. You would need assistance from a competent lawyer or discrimination specialist to prove this because the rules necessary to prove statistical disparities are complex.

You may have an easier time of demonstrating race discrimination when you are directly treated unfairly on the job. For example, if you are repeatedly harassed and called names on the job, or are treated differently from nonminorities (e.g., you are absent several days from work and are suspended or placed on formal probation, while white workers with the same or a greater number of absences are only given an informal warning), it is best to gather this factual information for discussion with an executive or officer in your company's personnel department. In light of the Supreme Court decision Wards Cove v. Antonio, you may have an easier time proving race discrimination on an individual basis as opposed to relying on statistical disparities. This is because in certain cases employers now only have to offer a business justification for actions that are shown by statistics to have an unfair impact on minorities. The burden then shifts to the complainant to demonstrate that the alleged business justification is not legitimate.