This article contributes to the analysis of the fight against discrimination in hiring practices by examining how employers manage to dismiss the charges against them. Based on claims filed with the Défenseur des droits (Rights’ Defender) between 2013 and 2015, the article explores the cases which have involved both public or private employers. The analysis focuses on the way in which the files are evaluated by the Defender, on the narratives and the documents delivered by both the claimants and the employers with an emphasis on the arguments of the latter. Following the hypothesis that hiring decisions are fragile, an in-depth case study and then a cross-sectional analysis of the files have been undertaken. The article reveals employers’ insistence on valuing their good practices and their propensity to focus on the personality of the claimants in order to question their skills and their credibility. The results underline the room for manoeuvre the employers have in reconstituting the hiring operation in question and in defining the requirements of the position.