Employment Discrimination

Filing an Employment Discrimination Charge with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
A Step-by-Step Guide on What to Expect
The Law
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the federal law that says there will be no job
discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin. The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces this law.
Under Title VII, these actions are
illegal:
• Discriminating in recruitment,
advertising jobs, hiring,
training, assigning jobs,
promotion, transfer, use of
company space, layoff, firing,
wages, disciplinary action, all
fringe benefits, and other
terms, privileges, and
conditions.
• Getting back at an employee
for filing a charge of
discrimination or helping in an
EEOC investigation.
• Anything bad that happens to
an employee because of being
against employment practices
that are illegal.
Title VII does not cover
discrimination based on age,
citizenship, union activity, political
affiliation, sexual orientation, or
disability. (Discrimination based
on age or disabilities are covered under other laws that the EEOC enforces.)
The law says a jury will decide how much to pay you because of the job discrimination
you experienced. This amount is called “damages.” Damages that can be awarded
include the kind to make up for what you suffered such as emotional distress and
medical bills. Also, you may receive damages to punish the employer if the
discrimination was on purpose. The amount of money that can be awarded as damages
is limited by the size of the company and ranges from $50,000-$300,000 for each person
discriminated against. In addition, you can get back pay and get the job back.
Who is covered by this
law?
• Private employers, state and
local governments, educational
institutions, labor organizations
with 15 or more employees or
members.
• Employment agencies and
joint labor-management
committees for apprenticeship
and training.
• Federal government (you must
first consult with an EEO
counselor at the employing
agency within 45 days of the
problem; formal complaints are
filed with the employing
agency).
Filing

Filing a Charge
To get help under Title VII, you need to file written charges of discrimination with an
EEOC office before you can take the case to court. The EEOC serves as a neutral
investigator that does not represent either you or the employer.
You must file your charge within a certain period of time after the discrimination
happens. Ask your local office what this time limit is for your state.

A charge may be filed by any person who says she/he is the victim of discrimination, by
any person or group on behalf of a victim(s) of
discrimination, or by any of the EEOC
Commissioners. Some EEOC offices also allow
charges to be filed by mail. Check with your local
EEOC office to see whether you must file in
person.
A person can go to EEOC and file a charge
without a lawyer. However, the agency is short on
staff, with many cases, so it is better to hire a
lawyer if you can.
The charge is then written up, sworn to and filed.
You should ask for a copy of the completed
complaint forms before leaving the EEOC office.
When you file a charge, be prepared to provide the following information:
• Your name, address, phone number and social security number.
• The employer’s name, address, phone number and approximate number of
employees. (The employer is called the “respondent”.)
• What kind of alleged discrimination took place (race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, retaliation).
• The date of most recent discrimination.
• Details of what happened, including the harm that resulted.
• Names of witnesses who can help prove your case.
• Your work history with the employer.
• Your job description.
• The reason employer gave for action(s) that led to the charge.
• How you were treated differently than other employees not of the same sex, race,
religion, etc. Were they treated better than you?
• Other spoken or written evidence to help your case.
The Employer’s Response
The EEOC may contact your employer any time after you file a charge. During the
investigation, the employer may be asked to provide:
• Specific information about what you said in the charge.
• The names of witnesses who support what the employer says happened.
• Information about the business and workplace.
• Personnel records.

Employers may give other spoken or written evidence.
If an employer tries to frustrate an EEOC investigation by destroying or not keeping
records because of an investigation, EEOC
can decide that means that the information
would have been against the employer and
use that in deciding if a charge has merit. If

the employer won’t turn over information to
EEOC and the case goes to court, the
withheld information can be gotten in other
ways.
Investigation
After a charge is filed, an EEOC
investigator will decide if discrimination
probably took place. The investigator may
1) be able to decide quickly that
discrimination likely took place, or 2) need
more time to investigate, or 3) decide that
no discrimination took place and dismiss
the charge quickly.
You can ask for a “Right to Sue” letter any
time after filing a charge with the EEOC. If
you do, the letter must be given after 180
days from filing; it may be granted earlier if
EEOC decides that taking care of the
charge cannot be done in 180 days. After
you receive the “Right to Sue” letter, you
have 90 days to file in court. The EEOC
gives brief status reports by phone or in writing to both parties every few months.
Mediation and Settlement
Mediation is a way of working things out that is offered by the EEOC in place of the
usual investigation. You may choose to do this or not. If either you or the employer says
no to mediation, OR if both sides don’t reach an agreement through mediation, the
charge will be sent to an EEOC enforcement unit for investigation.
The mediation process usually takes 90 days. The mediator does not decide who is right
or wrong and has no authority to make both sides settle. The mediator helps both sides
reach their own agreement. The help available is the same as that available in court and
may include reinstatement, promotion, transfer, harassment stopped, reference letters
and money.
A settlement that comes through mediation may be less, especially in money, than what
you might finally get in court if you were able to win your case. This means you need to
weigh what you could get now against what you might get in court in the future. If a
settlement is reached during mediation, you will need to sign a waiver saying you have
no further legal claims against the employer in this matter. Both parties may have a
representative with them at the mediation. This may include a family member, lawyer or other person there to help you (called an “advocate.”) The EEOC can provide you with a list of free (“pro bono”) advocates if you ask.
Whether or not a charge is mediated, the EEOC will encourage settlement between the
parties.

Determination of Charge
If the EEOC investigates and finds
that there is “no reasonable cause”
to believe that discrimination took
place, EEOC will send out a
“Dismissal and Notice of Rights”
form stating that the investigation
didn’t prove a violation of the law.
This serves as the charging party’s
“Right to Sue” letter.
If the EEOC finds that there is
“cause” to believe that discrimination
took place, the EEOC will attempt to
settle the case.
Conciliation
If discrimination is found and things
are worked out, you will normally be
offered specific
help—which can include
reinstatement, hiring, promotion,
back pay, fringe benefits, and money
to make up for the harm to you.
Filing in Court
If settlement is not reached, the
EEOC has the power to go to court
for you. However, this is not required
and EEOC’s limited resources make
it unlikely. In most cases when
discrimination is found and settlement attempts fail, the EEOC will quit the case and
send you a “Right to Sue” letter which allows you to take the case to court. So you
should expect that, if no settlement is reached, you will need to bring your own lawsuit. If
the EEOC does sue for you, it has the same right as a private lawyer to work out how
much you should receive.

A Women Employed Fact Sheet. ©Women Employed, 2004. This material may be
used without permission if credit is given to Women Employed.
The mission of Women Employed is to improve the economic status of women and
remove barriers to economic equity. For more information about Women Employed,
please phone 312-782-3902 or visit our website at www.womenemployed.org.

NEW CENTURY JUSTICE NETWORK  - SPECIALIZES IN INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING DISCRIMINATION, RACISM, RETALIATION, HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WRONGFULL TERMINATION. CALL:  253-255-2619.