Analyze Iss Employment Complaint

---
name: analyze-iss-employment-complaint
task_id: employment-labor/analyze-iss-employment-complaint
description: Guides defense counsel to analyze a multi-count employment complaint count-by-count, applying the relevant statutory limitations periods, damages ceilings, burden-shifting frameworks, and procedural defenses for each legal theory.
activates_for: [planner, solver, checker]
---

# Skill: Identify Issues in Multi-Claim Employment Complaint

## 1. Subject-matter triage

- Treat the complaint as a count-by-count defense exercise, not a single narrative response.
- First identify the legal theory in each count, the named defendant(s), the employment action(s) challenged, and any pleaded dates that control timeliness or exhaustion.
- If the pleading mixes discrimination, retaliation, accommodation, wage-and-hour, contract, or quasi-contract theories, analyze each under its own elements, defenses, and remedies; do not assume one framework governs all counts.
- If only one claim type is actually present, state that explicitly and explain why the other frameworks do not apply.

## 2. Failure modes the skill is correcting

- Analyst addresses only the most prominent count and omits alternative or subsidiary theories pleaded in the same complaint.
- Analyst accepts the plaintiff’s damages theory without independently applying the correct lookback period, accrual rule, or remedial ceiling.
- Analyst treats all employment claims as if they share one limitation period, one exhaustion rule, or one causation standard.
- Analyst conflates direct evidence with circumstantial proof and fails to run the applicable burden-shifting analysis.
- Analyst identifies a defense in the abstract but does not tie it to the pleaded facts, the governing rule, and the downstream effect on exposure or motion strategy.
- Analyst skips timeliness, exhaustion, or prerequisite defects that can dispose of a count early.

## 3. Legal frameworks / domain conventions that apply

- Pleading and dismissal standards: apply the governing federal pleading standard, typically Rule 8 and the plausibility rule under *Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly* and *Ashcroft v. Iqbal*, and assess whether the count pleads facts, not labels.
- Discrimination and retaliation frameworks: separate direct-evidence theories from circumstantial theories; for circumstantial claims, use the applicable burden-shifting framework and test the prima facie case, the employer’s legitimate non-discriminatory reason, and pretext.
- Anti-discrimination statutes: identify the specific statute or common-law theory supporting each count, then apply the elements, protected class or activity, adverse action, causation standard, and available remedies for that authority.
- Accommodation claims: evaluate whether the pleading alleges a qualifying condition, notice/request, the employer’s response, and any interactive-process or undue-hardship issue under the governing statute.
- Administrative exhaustion: if the claim requires a charge or other agency filing, test timeliness, scope of the administrative charge, and any required right-to-sue or comparable prerequisite.
- Limitations periods and accrual: determine the claim-specific filing deadline, the accrual date, and any continuing-violation, relation-back, tolling, or equitable-excuse argument.
- Wage-and-hour claims: apply the governing wage statute, regular-rate or overtime methodology where relevant, and any statutory exceptions, exemptions, or off-the-clock issues.
- Damages limits: separate uncapped from capped remedies, apply any statutory cap or tier that depends on employer size or other pleaded facts, and distinguish back pay, front pay, liquidated damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees where available.
- Contract or policy-based claims: if the complaint invokes handbook, policy, offer-letter, or implied-contract theories, identify the operative promise, any disclaimer, and any for-cause or progressive-discipline language.

## 4. Analytical scaffolds

- Count-by-count analysis: for each count, state the theory, governing authority, elements, strongest defense points, timeliness/exhaustion issues, remedial limits, and overall risk.
- Issue-closing triad: for every issue, tie it to a pleaded fact pattern or source-document figure, cross-reference the related count or document that affects it, and state the practical consequence for liability, leverage, or motion practice.
- Burden-shifting analysis: for each discrimination or retaliation count, identify the plaintiff’s prima facie theory, the employer’s articulated reason, and the best pretext rebuttal points; note any direct evidence that changes the framework.
- Timeline analysis: build a chronology of protected activity, complaints, requests, discipline, performance issues, and adverse actions to test causation, temporal proximity, and retaliation theories.
- Damages check: isolate the claimed period, apply the governing lookback or cap, and compare the pleaded exposure to the legally supportable maximum under the cited authority.
- Facial-sufficiency check: flag counts that appear vulnerable for failure to plead an element, failure to plead exhaustion, untimeliness, or reliance on conclusory allegations instead of facts.

## 5. Vertical / structural / temporal relationships

- Compare each count against any attached charge, notice, handbook, policy, employment agreement, termination letter, or internal chronology that bears on the same allegation.
- If the complaint references discipline, termination, resignation, or leave events, test whether the employer’s stated reason aligns with the cited policy or documented cause language.
- When multiple adverse actions appear, analyze them in sequence; a later event may depend on, or undermine, the explanation for an earlier event.

## 6. Output structure conventions

- Write a defense-oriented issue-identification memorandum organized by count.
- Define a simple ordinal severity scale once at the top and apply it uniformly to every issue.
- For each count, include: theory and governing authority; essential elements; defenses and vulnerabilities; timeliness/exhaustion/remedial limits; severity; and practical consequence.
- Each issue entry must close with: the relevant threshold or time period, the cross-referenced document or related count, and the client impact.
- Use the controlling authority by name and section or leading case whenever stating a legal proposition.
- Include a consolidated exposure summary that distinguishes capped and uncapped remedies and states the legally supportable maximum for each count where calculable from the source materials.
- End with a Recommended Actions section that uses imperative verbs, assigns the responsible role, and gives a timing anchor tied to the next pleading, response, or motion deadline.
- Flag counts that are facially weak and identify the most appropriate early dispositive-motion strategy, such as partial dismissal, judgment on the pleadings, or targeted strike where available.