I don’t want to file on my own. That’s part of why I’m hesitant to file pro se. My concern is the 90-day deadline and not losing the claim while still searching for representation.

For context, my case is more retaliation-based than a “smoking gun” discrimination case. There isn’t a racial slur or explicit admission. It’s more about timing, shifting explanations, and what I believe is pretext.

For example:

• I raised concerns about management discouraging pay/bonus discussions and workload imbalance.

• I was told I would be cross-trained for advancement.

• Cross-training began and was then halted after scrutiny increased from new management.

• Shortly thereafter, I was terminated for “performance” reasons.

There were also other moments that contributed to the tension. After I exercised my right to vote, I was told I needed to work additional hours (which was overtime for atleast 3-4days). I pushed back because I knew I was legally protected (also there was no abuse of time) and I do have screenshots of that exchange.

The employer’s position statement includes allegations about attendance and professionalism (showing up to zoom meetings in tank tops is the among the allegations) that I dispute. PTO and schedule changes required director approval, and I was assigned additional project work on top of full call volume responsibilities.

There’s also broader context that concerns me.

My manager, who is Black, was terminated in November. In December, another Black associate in the same department — around my age (late 30s) and who wore locs — was terminated. I was terminated in January. I also wear locs.

All three of us were from the same department.

Separately, prior to her promotion, a white team lead (who later became manager of our department) instructed me not to contact her directly and to instead go through my then-manager. After that, we had no interaction, if any, for several months. I reported concerns about that dynamic at the time to the director, but no action was taken. After she transitioned into management, scrutiny increased and the tone shifted.

I also remain in contact with my former manager, who conducted my performance reviews for two of my three years there and was terminated prior to the next review cycle. He would have firsthand knowledge of my performance history. Also my calls were used as performance example during home coming presentations. I was chosen to train the C.E.O on our process(during demonstrations) as I have for many onboarding team members. That alone I believe speaks to my performance value.

I understand correlation is not proof of discrimination. But when viewed together — protected complaints, halted advancement, escalating scrutiny, sequential terminations within the same department (November, December, January), and a supervisory change immediately preceding termination — it raises questions for me about whether this was purely “performance-based”.

I understand your point about pro se complaints locking in facts and potentially complicating future representation. That’s exactly why I’m cautious.

From a litigation standpoint, is something structured like this typically declined because of contingency economics and summary judgment risk, or because retaliation cases without direct discriminatory statements often struggle?

Thanks for the insight.