Want to learn more about the EEOC process? Watch this video. Then call an experienced Phoenix employment lawyer.
The EEOC’s process is a very distinct process that must be followed, and it’s important that the process is followed because once the matter is filed in court, one of the reasons the case could be dismissed is if all of the administrative proceedings have not been adhered to. Understanding the EEOC process is critical. A lot of lawyers that are not experienced in that area don’t understand the EEOC process. We’re fortunate here at Smith & Green that our managing partners were former EEOC investigators, so this is the world that we lived in for some time, understanding the process.
Virtually what happens with the EEOC is, once you’ve voiced your concerns with the employer, and you feel like it has not been resolved amicably, or it was a termination where you no longer have the right to voice it with the employer, you file a claim with the EEOC. That could be done either by walking in or online. You schedule an interview with an investigator. At that time is when you lay out your concerns as to why you feel you have been discriminated against, based on one of those five laws.
It’s important to note that some of the claims have a 300-day statute of limitation on them, other claims have 180-day statute of limitation on them, which literally means you must have that claim filed with the EEOC or it’s a fair agency, which is a state agency that’s charged to collect those types of claims or address those claims. In Arizona, it happens to be the Arizona Department of Justice handles those claims, their employment division. Depending on where you file, it could also have an impact on whether it needs to be filed within 300 days or 180 days.
Not all employers qualify under the statute of the EEOC. If you’re going to file a race discrimination claim because you feel like you are being treated differently than people who are of a different race, sex, religion, or skin color than you, that employer has to have at least 15 employees. That’s the broad rule, at least 15 employees to qualify, to be subject to the rules or the requirements of Title 7. If that employer only has six employees, they wouldn’t qualify under Title 7.
Now there may be some other local codes that could hold that employer accountable, or state codes that could hold that employer accountable. Under the federal statute, Title 7, they would have to have 15 employees. That’s not a hardline rule because if you could have 15 employees over the course of a specific period of time, over a year for example, that could meet the 15-employee threshold.
If the employer only has one employee and has only had one employee for an entire year, Title 7 is not going to be your statute of choice to pursue under. That’s just an example of how the EEOC works. They would look at this to make sure that that employer is actually subject to the law of Title 7 or some of the other laws.
Virtually, you would go down to the EEOC, schedule it over the phone or you could do a phone interview. You could fill out the forms online. Or you can come to a lawyer’s office that has all the information. They would draft up a charge for you, referred to as a Form 5. That is the charge of discrimination. It is a plain and simple statement of what has happened to you. How you feel like you were discriminated against. What the difference was in treatment or the impact of the difference in treatment.
Once that charge is filed with the EEOC, the tolling time stops at that time. In other words, time is tolled at that point; the statute of limitation, if you’re within that 300 or 180 days, is suspended. Some of these cases go on for years and years. It’s suspended at that point. You are safe. At some point, you will be able to file in court, once you receive a notice of right to sue from the EEOC. At that point, the EEOC generally has about ten days to make sure that that claim is served on the employer. In other words, the employer gets notice of the claim.
If that investigator determines that the claim has merit to it, then that employer will be required to submit a response, or what the EEOC refers to as a position statement, or a statement of position. It’s literally them explaining their side of the story. A lot of times, especially with bigger employers, they will hire outside counsel; some of them have inside counsel. Some of them let human resources respond to these claims.
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