Which is why anti-discrimination laws are entirely toothless. “I didn’t fire you because you are black/female/Muslim, I fired you because I stubbed my toe on the way into the office!”

Like, unless they put into text “we fired this person because X,” you’re never getting any form of justice.

I watched my manager at a shitty fast food job toss a black guy’s application - “because the last one caused problems.” Unless you get enough people to to testify it’s a pattern - enough people willing to risk their jobs for justice that likely won’t happen - there’s nothing for it. Fuck, I lost my last job pretty much immediately after bringing up some Title 9 violations and asking for some accommodations for a medical condition - the retaliation is obvious but not enough to make a lawyer happy.

I guess in federal spaces, there are technically more protections, but we aren’t operating under the rule of law right now. Rules only exist if they are enforced.