You’re thinking: “I just need to prove I’m a good employee again.”

Your manager is thinking: “How many write-ups do we need before legal says we can fire her?”

Those are not the same conversation.

You complained about your manager’s comments about your age. Or you requested a pregnancy accommodation. Or you took FMLA leave to care for a sick parent.

Two weeks later, you were suddenly “7 minutes late” to a meeting you weren’t late to. You “failed to respond promptly” to emails you answered the same day. You displayed “attitude problems” for which no one can give you a specific example.

Meanwhile, your coworker who’s 28 shows up 20 minutes late every Tuesday. No write-up. Your coworker who takes three days to respond to emails. No write-up. Your coworker who was actually rude in that meeting. No write-up.

This isn’t about your performance. This is retaliation dressed up as performance management. And your employer is building a paper trail to justify firing you for illegal reasons.

Here are the seven warning signs that your employer is documenting you out—and what you actually need to do about it.

1. Your Manager’s Behavior Changed Overnight

Last month, your manager was hands-off. Gave you autonomy. Trusted you to do your job.

This month, they’re micromanaging every email you send. Questioning every decision. Hovering over your shoulder, asking for constant updates on work you’ve been doing successfully for years.

Or the opposite: You’ve been suddenly frozen out. Excluded from meetings you used to run. Removed from email chains. Cut out of projects you were leading.

Both tactics serve the same purpose. Micromanagement creates opportunities to document minor mistakes. Isolation sets you up to be labeled “ineffective” or “not a team player.”

When did this shift happen? If it was right after you complained about discrimination, requested accommodation, or took protected leave, that timing is evidence of retaliation.

2. The Standards Keep Moving

You meet the goals you were given. Suddenly, those weren’t the right goals. You complete the project on time. Suddenly, the timeline wasn’t the real deadline. You improve the specific things they told you to improve. Suddenly, the problem is something else entirely.

Or the feedback is so vague you can’t fix it: “Be more of a team player.” “Improve your attitude.” “Work on your communication skills.” No specific examples. No measurable objectives. Nothing you can actually address.

This is deliberate. Constantly changing or impossibly vague standards make it impossible for you to succeed. This allows your employer to claim you failed to meet expectations that were never clearly defined.

3. Everything Goes Into Your File Now

For three years, minor mistakes were handled informally. A quick conversation. Verbal feedback. No documentation.

Now every email from your manager cc’s HR. Every minor error gets memorialized in a formal write-up. Things that used to be “no big deal” are now “serious performance concerns that need to be documented.”

Your manager is suddenly obsessed with creating a paper trail. And when you’re eventually fired, they’ll point to pages of documentation to claim you were terminated for performance, not retaliation.

The documentation itself is the warning sign, especially if it started right after you engaged in protected activity.

4. Only You Get Written Up for Things Everyone Does

This is the most important warning sign: selective enforcement.

Your colleague arrives late three times a week. No problem. You arrive late once, and it goes in your file. Your coworker makes the same mistake you made last week. Only you get disciplined. Policies that were never enforced before are suddenly being applied, but only to you.

Pay attention to who is being treated differently. If the colleagues who aren’t being scrutinized differ from you in a protected characteristic—age, race, gender, disability, pregnancy status—that’s evidence of discriminatory bias.

Under New York City law, you don’t need to prove the discrimination was severe or pervasive. You only need to show you were treated “less well” than others because of a protected characteristic. Different enforcement of the same rule is exactly that kind of evidence.

5. The Timeline Tells the Story

You complained about harassment on Monday. By Friday, your manager had “concerns about your performance.”

You requested a disability accommodation in January. In February, you’re suddenly getting written up for things that were never problems before.

You returned from FMLA leave in March. By April, you’re on a performance improvement plan.

Timing is critical in retaliation cases. When sudden documentation follows protected activity by days or weeks, that temporal proximity creates a legal inference of retaliation.

Courts generally consider gaps of less than two weeks “very close” and highly suspicious. One month or less usually supports an inference of causal connection. Longer gaps may still support a claim if there’s other evidence, like a pattern of antagonism or shifting explanations.

Write down the date you complained or requested accommodation. Write down when your employer’s behavior changed. That timeline is evidence.

6. Dead Policies Suddenly Come Back to Life—For You

Every workplace has policies in the handbook that nobody actually follows. Dress code provisions. Break time rules. Email usage guidelines. They exist on paper, but in practice, everyone ignores them.

Until suddenly your employer decides to enforce one of these dormant policies. But only against you.

You’ve been wearing jeans on Fridays for two years. Now it’s a dress code violation. You’ve been taking 35-minute lunch breaks instead of 30. Now it’s time theft. You’ve been checking personal email at work like everyone else. Now it’s a misuse of company resources.

This selective resurrection of ignored policies is evidence of pretext. It shows your employer isn’t genuinely concerned about the policy violation; they’re looking for any excuse to discipline you.

7. They Want You to Quit

Your employer offers you a severance package even though you haven’t been fired. Or they suggest you might want to “explore other opportunities.” Or they tell you this job “might not be the right fit anymore.”

This is a push toward voluntary resignation. If you quit, they don’t have to fire you. This makes it harder for you to prove wrongful termination. After all, you resigned—they didn’t terminate you.

Do not sign anything without talking to an employment lawyer first. Severance agreements almost always require you to waive your right to sue for discrimination or retaliation. Once you sign, those rights are gone.

What You Should Actually Do

Stop trying to perform your way out of this. When your employer is building a case to fire you for illegal reasons, working harder won’t fix the problem.

Here’s what you need to do instead:

Build your own case.

Create a detailed written record of everything. Dates, times, witnesses, and what was said. Document every instance where you were treated differently from coworkers. Save emails, performance reviews, and text messages to your personal email account—not your work email. When they fire you, they’ll cut off your access immediately.

Identify comparators.

Pay attention to which coworkers are doing the same things you’re getting written up for—but aren’t being disciplined. Document their names, the specific conduct, and whether they differ from you in protected characteristics.

Save your positive performance history.

Pull every positive performance review, email praising your work, award, bonus, or promotion from before the documentation started. This contradicts your employer’s sudden claim that you’re a poor performer.

Respond to write-ups in writing.

If you’re asked to sign a disciplinary write-up, you can add “I disagree with this characterization” before signing. Or refuse to sign and write “I refuse to sign” with your initials. Then send an email to HR with your version of what happened and BCC your personal email.

Talk to an employment lawyer now.

Don’t wait until you’re fired. The best time to protect your rights is while you’re still employed and have access to evidence, witnesses, and your work email account.

New York City Law Protects You

If you work in New York City, you’re protected by the New York City Human Rights Law—one of the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country.

Under the NYCHRL, you don’t need to prove discrimination was “severe or pervasive.” You only need to show you were treated “less well” than others because of a protected characteristic. The selective enforcement and different treatment described above satisfy this standard.

Retaliation is illegal under New York City law. If your employer takes adverse action against you because you complained about discrimination, requested accommodation, or engaged in protected activity, that’s unlawful—even if the underlying discrimination claim doesn’t succeed.

The temporal proximity between your protected activity and the sudden documentation creates a legal inference of retaliation. The closer in time, the stronger the inference.

If you’re fired for pretextual reasons—where the stated reason is false and the real reason is discrimination or retaliation—you can recover compensatory damages for emotional distress, back pay, front pay, and punitive damages. All uncapped under New York City law. Plus attorneys’ fees.

You have three years from the discriminatory or retaliatory act to file a lawsuit in court.

The Bottom Line

When you see these warning signs, your instinct will be to work harder. Stay later. Respond to emails faster. Prove you’re still a good employee.

That instinct is wrong.

Your employer isn’t documenting you because your performance dropped. They’re documenting you to create a legal justification for firing you for illegal reasons.

You can’t perform your way out of retaliation.

What you can do: Document everything. Identify who else does what you’re getting written up for. Save your positive performance history. Respond to write-ups in writing. Talk to a lawyer while you still have access to evidence.

The law prohibits discrimination and retaliation. Your employer’s paper trail doesn’t change that.

If you’re facing pretextual discipline or documentation in New York City, Risman & Risman, P.C. can help. We represent employees in discrimination and retaliation cases throughout New York and New Jersey. Call us at 212-233-6400 or contact us online for a consultation.