Please Cover Your Eyes to Judgment,
We all Deserve Equal Treatment
How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination
(This should be your Last Resort- Uempowerment will assist with the filing)
Note: Federal employees and job applicants have a different complaint process. For Federal employees/employers, please contact U Empowerment for more information on filing a claim.
You may file a charge of employment discrimination at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) office closest to where you live, or at any one of the EEOC’s 53 field offices. Your charge, however, may be investigated at the EEOC office closest to where the discrimination occurred. If you are a U.S. citizen working for an American company overseas, you should file your charge with the EEOC field office closest to your employer’s corporate headquarters.
Where the discrimination took place can determine how long you have to file a charge. The 180 calendar day filing deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a state or local law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis. The rules are slightly different for age discrimination charges. For age discrimination, the filing deadline is only extended to 300 days if there is a state law prohibiting age discrimination in employment and a state agency or authority enforcing that law. The deadline is not extended if only a local law prohibits age discrimination.
Many states and localities have agencies that enforce laws prohibiting employment discrimination. EEOC refers to these agencies as Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). EEOC and some FEPAs have work sharing agreements in place to prevent the duplication of effort in charge processing. According to these agreements, if you file a charge with either EEOC or a FEPA, the charge also will be automatically filed with the other agency. This process, which is defined as dual filing, helps to protect charging party rights under both federal and state or local law.
Please remember EEOC does not accept complaint charges online. However, they do have an online assessment tool that can help you decide if EEOC is the correct agency to assist you. You can then complete an Intake Questionnaire that you may print and either take or mail to the appropriate EEOC field office to begin the process of filing a charge.
Filing in Person
Each field office has its own procedures for appointments or walk-ins. Please check the field office list for their office's procedures.
It is always helpful if you take to the meeting any information or papers that will help EEOC rep understand your case. For example, if you were fired because of your performance, you might bring with you the letter or notice telling you that you were fired and your performance evaluations. You might also bring with you the names of people who know about what happened and information about how to contact them.
You can take anyone you want to your meeting, especially if you need language assistance and know someone who can help. You can also take your lawyer, although you don’t have to hire a lawyer to file a charge. If you need special assistance during the meeting, like a sign language or foreign language interpreter, please let EEOC ahead of time so it can be arranged for someone to be there for you.
By Telephone
Although EEOC do not process complaint charges over the phone, you can get the process started over the phone. You can call 1-800-669-4000 to submit basic information about a possible charge, and it will be forward to the EEOC field office in your area. Once the field office receives your information, they will contact you to talk to you about your situation.
By Mail
You can file a charge by sending a letter that includes the following information: (Uempowerment will assist your filing with EEOC)
Your name, address, and telephone number
The name, address and telephone number of the employer (or employment agency or union) you want to file your charge against
The number of employees employed there (if known)
A short description of the events you believe were discriminatory (for example, you were fired, demoted, harassed)
When the events took place
Why you believe you were discriminated against (for example, because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information)
Your signature
Don’t forget to sign your letter. If you don’t sign it, cannot investigate it.
Your letter will be reviewed and if more information is needed, EEOC will contact you to gather that information or you may be sent a follow up questionnaire. At a later date, EEOC will contact you and may put all of the information you sent on an official EEOC charge form and ask you to sign it.
"The above information and alleged issues are also needed at U Empowerment to assist you, the (employee or employer) to resolve the allegations of workplace dispute, discrimination, harassment or hostile work environment. We utilize mediations, sensing sessions and private meetings as an alternative. Therefore, the process that's recommended is to possibly get resolutions and resolving the allegations before filing a complaint charge through your local grievance and human resource or EEOC field offices. But please remember the best route to take first ,is communicating with your supervisor in resolving issues, it's at least 77% proven cause communication barrier breakdown between employee/employer on complaint charges.