Filing a Complaint with the EEOC
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has a statute of limitations for when a person (complainant) must file a complaint alleging employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, etc. A complaint must be filed with the EEOC either 180 or 300 days after an alleged unlawful employment practice. The timing is based on whether or not the complaining employee lives in an area covered by a fair employment practice agency (FEPA). There are more than 100 state and local Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). The EEOC has cooperative relationships with all but a few of them.
The EEOC and the FEPAs it works with have reached Worksharing Agreements that divide up their common workload of charges in order to avoid duplication of charge processing. Each charge of discrimination that is covered by both an EEOC-enforced statute and the FEPAs law or ordinance is dual-filed under both laws, regardless of which agency receives it. These dual-filed charges are typically investigated by only one agency. This way, employers avoid two investigations of the same matter, but the legal rights of the complaining employee are still preserved under both laws. (Blogger note: I filed my complaint with the Office of Human Rights (OHR). My complaint was jointly filed with the EEOC, but is being investigated by OHR—not by both agencies.)
If the alleged violation arose in a state or locality that does not have a FEPA with the authority to grant relief, a charge must be filed with the EEOC within 180 days of the violation.
If the alleged violation arose in a state or locality that does have a FEPA, a charge must be filed with the EEOC or a FEPA within 300 days of the violation.
The EEOC filing period can be extended under certain circumstances. For instance, the complaining employee may have had a lack of knowledge about the EEOC process, which caused a delay in filing in a timely manner. Or, an employer may have engaged in behavior that prevented an employee from filing an EEOC complaint in a timely manner.
The statutory time limits may be extended, or "tolled," for equitable reasons where the complaining employee was understandably unaware of the EEO process or of important facts that should have led him or her to suspect discrimination.
Grounds for equitable tolling include: not having a reason to suspect discrimination at the time of an employment action/incident, mental incapacity, misleading information or mishandling of charge by the EEOC or FEPA and/or the timely filing of a complaint—in the wrong forum.
Individuals who are represented by counsel during the relevant time frame will have difficulty establishing a right to tolling.
Source: http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/threshold.html#2-IV
The EEOC and the FEPAs it works with have reached Worksharing Agreements that divide up their common workload of charges in order to avoid duplication of charge processing. Each charge of discrimination that is covered by both an EEOC-enforced statute and the FEPAs law or ordinance is dual-filed under both laws, regardless of which agency receives it. These dual-filed charges are typically investigated by only one agency. This way, employers avoid two investigations of the same matter, but the legal rights of the complaining employee are still preserved under both laws. (Blogger note: I filed my complaint with the Office of Human Rights (OHR). My complaint was jointly filed with the EEOC, but is being investigated by OHR—not by both agencies.)
If the alleged violation arose in a state or locality that does not have a FEPA with the authority to grant relief, a charge must be filed with the EEOC within 180 days of the violation.
If the alleged violation arose in a state or locality that does have a FEPA, a charge must be filed with the EEOC or a FEPA within 300 days of the violation.
The EEOC filing period can be extended under certain circumstances. For instance, the complaining employee may have had a lack of knowledge about the EEOC process, which caused a delay in filing in a timely manner. Or, an employer may have engaged in behavior that prevented an employee from filing an EEOC complaint in a timely manner.
The statutory time limits may be extended, or "tolled," for equitable reasons where the complaining employee was understandably unaware of the EEO process or of important facts that should have led him or her to suspect discrimination.
Grounds for equitable tolling include: not having a reason to suspect discrimination at the time of an employment action/incident, mental incapacity, misleading information or mishandling of charge by the EEOC or FEPA and/or the timely filing of a complaint—in the wrong forum.
Individuals who are represented by counsel during the relevant time frame will have difficulty establishing a right to tolling.
Source: http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/threshold.html#2-IV
Labels: employment action, filing complaints, resources
posted by S. Mary Wills at 1:54 PM
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