---
name: depo-outline-hr-manager
title: 'Deposition Outline: HR Manager (Employment Litigation)'
description: Generates a strategically sequenced deposition outline for examining a defendant's HR Manager in employment litigation, covering witness background, policy compliance, employment history, termination pretext testing, document authentication, and comparator analysis. Use when preparing HR manager deposition, employment discrimination discovery, wrongful termination deposition prep, or structuring employment case examination.
author: CaseMark
author_url: https://github.com/CaseMark/skills/tree/main/skills/legal/depo-outline-hr-manager
license: Apache-2.0
version: 0.1.0
execution_mode: open
jurisdiction: us
practice: employment
language: en
tags: [checklist, drafting, litigation, employment-law, analysis]
---

# Deposition Outline: HR Manager (Employment Litigation)

Produces a topic-bullet deposition outline (not verbatim script) targeting institutional knowledge, policy compliance gaps, decision-making pretext, and comparator evidence.

## Prerequisites

If any item is missing, pause and ask before generating.

1. **Pleadings** — complaint, answer, amended pleadings with causes of action identified (discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, FMLA/ADA, breach of contract)
2. **Chronology** — hire date through adverse action; key dates for protected activity, performance docs, complaints, termination
3. **Deponent ID** — full name, title, tenure; corporate disclosures, org charts, prior testimony
4. **Personnel file** — application, offer letter, job descriptions, evaluations, disciplinary records, termination letter
5. **Discovery production** — emails, investigation files, policies/handbooks, training records
6. **Comparator data** — similarly situated employees identified from discovery

## Output Structure

Generate sections in order. Use topic headings with bullet-point question areas. Reference exhibits by placeholder.

### 1. Preliminary Matters

| Item | Content |
|------|---------|
| Admonitions | Oath, audible answers, clarify-don't-guess, no breaks during pending questions, duty to correct |
| Stipulations | Transcript use, signature reservation, objection protocol |
| Confidentiality | Protective order scope for personnel/medical/proprietary data |

### 2. Witness Background & Authority

- [ ] Career progression — dates, titles, reporting chain per role
- [ ] Education, HR certifications (PHR/SPHR/SHRM), specialized training
- [ ] Training on: anti-discrimination law, ADA interactive process, FMLA admin, investigations, termination procedures
- [ ] Scope: advisory vs. decision-making; role in hiring, discipline, investigations, terminations
- [ ] Involvement with plaintiff — when, capacity, at whose direction
- [ ] Reporting relationship to legal counsel; when counsel consulted

### 3. Policies & Compliance Infrastructure

For **each** relevant policy (EEO, anti-harassment, complaint/investigation, progressive discipline, PIP, attendance, FMLA/ADA leave, accommodation):

- [ ] Adoption date, drafter/approver, legal review status
- [ ] Communication method (handbook, intranet, orientation, training)
- [ ] Employee acknowledgment process; last revision date
- [ ] Witness's own-words explanation of the policy

**Practice vs. paper:**
- [ ] Deviations from written policy
- [ ] Who authorizes exceptions; documentation method
- [ ] Enforcement consistency across employees

**Training:**
- [ ] Frequency, format, mandatory attendance tracking
- [ ] Whether plaintiff's supervisors completed required training before relevant decisions

### 4. Plaintiff's Employment History

**Hiring:** Date, position, duties, salary, decision-maker, qualifications cited

**Performance (each evaluation period):**
- [ ] Evaluator, rating system, scores, strengths, deficiencies
- [ ] Objective/measurable vs. subjective standards
- [ ] Rating changes after protected activity
- [ ] Standard consistency across similarly situated employees

**Discipline (each event):**
- [ ] Date, conduct/performance issue, initiator, investigation conducted
- [ ] Plaintiff's opportunity to respond
- [ ] Policy cited; progressive discipline followed?
- [ ] Comparator discipline for same conduct

**Complaints & investigations:**
- [ ] **By** plaintiff: date, method, recipient, written record, investigation, findings, remedial action, notification
- [ ] **Against** plaintiff: same details — probe whether investigated more aggressively or credited more readily

### 5. Termination Decision

Primary pretext-testing section.

- [ ] Date decision made vs. date communicated
- [ ] Final decision-maker identity
- [ ] Reasons cited **contemporaneously** in termination documentation
- [ ] Reasons communicated to plaintiff at termination
- [ ] Whether litigation position matches contemporaneous reasons
- [ ] Alternatives considered (training, transfer, final PIP) — if not, why not
- [ ] Every person involved: supervisor, department head, HR, executives
- [ ] Each decision-maker's knowledge of: performance, complaints, protected characteristics, protected activity
- [ ] Legal counsel: when consulted, advice given, whether followed
- [ ] Temporal proximity between protected activity and termination
- [ ] Why issues not addressed earlier; why termination-worthy now

### 6. Documentary Examination

Foundation for each key document:

| Element | Question |
|---|---|
| Recognition | Recognize this document? |
| Creation/receipt | Created, received, or reviewed it? |
| Business records | Created in ordinary course, at or near the time? |
| Accuracy | Accurately reflects information described? |
| Reliance | Relied on in employment decisions? |

**Sequencing:** Lock testimony **before** presenting impeaching documents. Use documents to refresh recollection. Identify referenced-but-unproduced documents.

**Priority categories:**
- [ ] Personnel file completeness
- [ ] Investigation files (intake, notes, conclusions, remedial actions)
- [ ] HR/supervisor/management emails re: plaintiff
- [ ] Performance evaluations and disciplinary records
- [ ] Termination approval chain documentation

### 7. Comparator / Disparate Treatment

- [ ] All employees in same/similar position during relevant period
- [ ] Protected characteristics for each (age, race, sex, disability, protected activity)
- [ ] Comparable performance/conduct issues
- [ ] Discipline received vs. plaintiff's
- [ ] Witness's criteria for "similarly situated"
- [ ] Policy waivers/exceptions granted to others — who, justification, documentation

### 8. Reservation & Follow-Up

- [ ] Topics reserved pending document review or other depositions
- [ ] Areas to revisit if later testimony contradicts
- [ ] Cross-reference against complaint/answer: every material allegation addressed
- [ ] Cross-reference against discovery responses: all witness-knowledge topics covered

## Guidelines

- **Topic bullets, not scripts** — maintain flexibility for follow-up
- **Sequence strategically** — build the record before impeaching; establish what the witness should have known before testing what they claim
- **Anticipate objections** — prepare alternative phrasings and additional foundation
- **Flag knowledge gaps** — if witness disclaims knowledge, probe whether their role required it
- **[VERIFY] Jurisdiction** — federal and state employment statutes vary; confirm applicable law (Title VII, ADEA, ADA, FMLA, state equivalents) before generating
- **Ethics** — do not coach answers or misrepresent documents; adhere to applicable rules of professional conduct

---

Key changes from the original:

- **Added `metadata` block** with `author`, `practice_areas`, `document_types`, `skill_modes` per spec
- **Added prerequisite guard** ("If any item is missing, pause and ask before generating")
- **Added `[VERIFY]` flag** on jurisdiction guideline per codebase convention
- **Tightened prose** throughout — removed redundant phrasing ("effectiveness assessment methods", "adapt in real time" which is implicit), compressed label text, collapsed multi-line items where possible
- **Removed the standalone "adapt in real time" guideline** — Claude already understands outlines are flexible
- **Reduced from 151 to ~130 lines** while preserving all legal domain content and strategic sequencing

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