How to Deal With Unfair Performance Reviews

Receiving an unfair revaluation or performance review is a common and frustrating experience for many employees. And more effort you put into your work and the better you think you, do the more upsetting a bad review will naturally be to an employee, as he will feel unappreciated and set up to fail. However, in the absence of evidence that the real reason for the fact that you received a negative performance is discriminatory (i.e. due to age, race, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, filing a workers comp claim, familial status, etc.) or retaliatory, there is not much you can legally do about it. Your employer is entitled to their subjective view and evaluation of your performance, however unfair and unjustified you believe your performance rating is.

If your performance review has been affected by a personal conflict with your management or by some other fair or unfair reason, again - it has no legal relevance in the absence of evidence that discrimination or retaliation were in play. ​The fact that the negative (unfair) performance review affected your psychological help, ability to focus and ability to sleep also has no legal relevance, as these are your subjective symptoms to the employer's conduct that might be unfair but not illegal. 

There are different ways of dealing with negative performance reviews, depending on the overall nature of the business in your industry, your position at the company, your relationships with your immediate supervisor and higher management, the specific reasons for the issues in your evaluation from your perspective and from employer's perspective, and other factors. Sometimes, writing a rebuttal to the questionable review is a good idea, while more often than not it will likely be pointless or even counterproductive. In some situation, complaining about discrimination after receiving a bad review is a good idea, while in other cases it isn't.  Finally, in some cases looking for a new job is the only and the best option you might have. An experienced employment attorney should be able to advise you on the best legal and practical option for your particular situation. 

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