Performance evaluations can be effective means of preventing discrimination claims. Through this mechanism, employees can be kept advised regularly of how they stand with the employer and surprises in the future regarding their employment can be better managed. If evaluations are documented properly, they can head off discrimination claims or provide a good defense to them. On the other hand, if evaluations merely are perfunctory and do not inform the employee of how he or she actually is doing, then they can come back to haunt the employer when a discrimination claim is filed.
Too often, supervisors or managers who rate employees receive no instruction concerning how to evaluate employees. It is far too common for those who rate employees to check “satisfactory” or “good” without giving very much thought to whether the terms are correct. It is not uncommon for the person filling out a performance evaluation to use the same comments for virtually all employees. Such use of the performance review is virtually meaningless and unreliable and leaves the employer ripe for a lawsuit. It can be difficult to convince a jury that an employee was terminated for poor performance when their most recent evaluation reflects that...
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