Legal Process

Legal Process

Since 1997, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has seen over 1.5 million charges of discrimination in the workplace (EEOC, 2015). These charges include discrimination in the areas of race, sex, national origin, religion, color, age, disability, and wages. Many Americans may have experienced discrimination by an employer at some point in their careers, and there is a specific process involved in filing a discrimination complaint.

Federal employees or federal job applicants have a different complaint process than private sector employees, but both still have the right to file a complaint if they believe they were discriminated against because of their race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. The intent of this paper is to cover the complaint process for private sector employees and applicants against employers that have 15 or more employees.

Anti-discrimination laws provide a limited amount of time to file a discrimination charge, which needs to take place within 180 days of the date the discrimination occurred (EEOC, 2015). This timeframe can increase to 300 days if the state or local enforcement agency also prohibits discrimination for the same reason. If more than one violation occurs, the deadline applies to each occurrence. The charge will need to be filed at one of the 53 EEOC field offices, and cannot be initiated online (EEOC, 2015). The EEOC offers an online assessment tool that the employee or applicant can fill out the questionnaire and bring it with them to one of the field offices. The EEOC offers an initiation process that can be conducted over the phone and the information will be forwarded to a field office, where they will reach out to the complainant. An additional way file a charge is by the United States mail that needs to include information such as the complainant's name, address, phone number, the name address and phone number of the employer, number of employees involved, a description of the event, where the event took place, the reason for the discrimination, and a signature.

Once the charge has been filed, the EEOC will provide a copy of the charge(s) to the complainant as well as the employer within 10 days. For most cases, the EEOC will ask both parties to participate in a mediation program. For the cases that are not sent to mediation, or do not reach resolution from mediation, the charge is then progressed to the assignment of an investigator. In the event that the EEOC does not have jurisdiction, or they do not believe they will find evidence of any discrimination, or if the charge falls outside of the timeframe guidelines, the EEOC may dismiss the charge.  Investigation of charges can vary as far as duration, dependent upon the amount of information provided, the information the EEOC needs to gather, and the interviews they may need to conduct. According the EEOC in 2004, their average investigation time was six months. If the EEOC does find a violation of the law, they will try to achieve resolution outside of the court. If resolution is not achieved, the EEOC will then forward the case to their legal team or the Department of Justice if necessary. The Department of Justice will then determine if the EEOC should file a lawsuit against the employer. After the conclusion of the investigation, if the EEOC finds that there is no violation of the law, they will notify the complainant of the right to sue, which gives them the permission to file a lawsuit in court. It is important to note that 60 days must pass after the initial filing charge before the complainant can file a lawsuit, but no later than 90 days after the EEOC has issued the results of their investigation (EEOC, 2015).