Filing an EEOC Complaint: The Basics

Anyone who has faced unfairness or discrimination at work might look into their legal recourse. And if you’re in that boat, you might find yourself asking the basic threshold questions:

What did I do wrong?

Have I been discriminated against?

Is their treatment of me legal?

What do I do next?

One of the discriminated employee’s first recourses is to go and file a complaint with the EEOC, or the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC is a federal agency, not a state agency, although it maintains regional offices. It’s job is to handle discrimination complaints by evaluating them. It also attempts to come up with a solution for the employee, often hand-in-hand with the employer.

But not every case has a solution. And as far as the EEOC is concerned, it doesn’t have the power to make every employer listen or agree. In many cases, upset employees might need to take their case to court.

And remember that court comes with legal fees, headache, and time spent.

Once you file an EEOC complaint, the EEOC essentially looks into your complaint. It investigates. It needs to determine whether or not there is sufficient cause to support your claims.

Once the EEOC determines that there is cause, they issue a finding to that extent. At that point, the EEOC will start the conciliation process and bring the parties to the table. This helps the parties come together without having to go to court.

In many cases, you will be able to reach a satisfactory resolution of the problem. This could mean monetary relief, some action-items in place for your employer, or a combination things. But this doesn’t always work.

If you’ve been through the EEOC process and didn’t come to a suitable agreement, you might want to talk to an employment attorney. See below for a list of Philadelphia employment attorneys.

Related Resources:

• Philadelphia Employment Lawyers (FindLaw)
• Rite Aid to Pay $250,000 for Violation of ADA (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law News)
• EEOC: Top Five Employment Claims Sued Over in Pennsylvania (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment News)