Check the employee handbook or ask your HR department how to file a harassment or discrimination complaint. Then, follow those instructions to the letter. Again, keep or ask for a copy of the complaint for your files.
By complaining, you are giving the company an opportunity to investigate and resolve the problem. But you are also preserving your legal rights. In a harassment case, for example, your ability to hold the company liable rather than just the individual person who harassed you hinges on whether the company knew about, and had an opportunity to remedy, the harassment.
If you are being harassed by a manager and the end result is a tangible job action against you such as being fired, demoted, or denied a raise , the company will be liable. However, if you are being harassed by a coworker, or by a manager who doesn't take this type of work-related action against you, the company can claim that it did not know about the harassment.
By making an internal complaint, you are changing that situation: The complaint puts the company on notice of the problem and makes it liable for fixing it.
In a discrimination case, making an internal complaint also puts the company on notice of the problem. If the company then fails to take effective action to improve the situation, you might have a stronger argument for punitive damages: damages intended to punish an employer for egregious behavior, which can be the largest part of a damages award in a discrimination lawsuit.
Before you can bring a discrimination or harassment lawsuit under federal law, you must file an administrative charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEOC or a similar state agency. This is a legal requirement: If you file a lawsuit without first having filed a charge called "exhausting" your administrative remedies, legally speaking , your lawsuit will be thrown out. Many states also require employees to file an administrative complaint with the state's fair employment practices agency before filing a discrimination or harassment lawsuit based on state law.
Once you file a charge, the EEOC or agency will notify your employer. The agency might dismiss your charge, investigate, request that you and your employer try to settle or mediate the dispute, or take other action. Unless the agency decides to file a lawsuit on your behalf an extraordinarily rare occurrence , it will eventually finish processing your claim and issue you a right to sue letter.
Once you receive the letter, you may file a lawsuit. There are short deadlines for filing an administrative charge and for filing a lawsuit after receiving your right to sue letter.
If you aren't already represented by a lawyer, it's a good idea to get some legal help once you reach this stage.
Filing a formal charge of employment discrimination is a serious matter. In the EEOC's experience, having the opportunity to discuss your concerns with an EEOC staff member in an interview is the best way to assess how to address your concerns about employment discrimination and determine whether filing a charge of discrimination is the appropriate path for you.
In any event, the final decision to file a charge is your own. If you have 60 days or fewer in which to file a timely charge, the EEOC Public Portal will provide special directions for quickly providing necessary information to the EEOC and how to file your charge quickly. The laws enforced by the EEOC require the agency to accept charges alleging employment discrimination.
If the laws do not apply to your claims, if the charge was not filed within the law's time limits, or if the EEOC decides to limit its investigation, the EEOC will dismiss the charge without any further investigation and notify you of your legal rights.
Many states and local jurisdictions have their own anti-discrimination laws, and agencies responsible for enforcing those laws Fair Employment Practices Agencies , or FEPAs. Filing a Race Discrimination Claim with Human Resources Before you take legal action with the courts, you may want to file a claim with your Human Resources HR representative in order to give your company a chance to deal and stop the discrimination as soon as possible.
If they do not, then it only bolsters your case as you can show the courts that your company was aware of the discrimination and that you did, in fact, bring it to their attention but they failed to act. Most of the time, however, a claim to HR does the trick. Here are a few steps to take to ensure that your claim to HR is as legitimate as possible. After you file your claim, the commission will review it and then grant you the right to sue your employer if they find that your rights were indeed violated.
But because the DFEH also prohibits employers from discriminating based on inconsequential things like race, the deadline, or statute of limitations, is extended to calendar days from the day you last received your discrimination. These two agencies are in a work-sharing agreement, and so this means that when you file a claim with either the EEOC or DFEH, a duplicate copy of your claim is sent to the other agency.
This is called dual filing and serves to not only avoid identical claim but also to fully protect your rights under both federal and state laws. Once you file your claim, the agency with which you filed will launch an investigation and decide whether or not your rights were likely violated. This letter, as the name suggests, gives you the legal right to file a lawsuit against your employer for race discrimination or whichever discrimination of which they may have made you the victim.
It is recommended that you only request this letter once you and your attorney are ready to file such a lawsuit because you only have 90 days to take action once you receive the letter.
The California Labor Law Employment Attorneys Group is here to serve justice and make sure that your employer pays for breaking the law and making you a victim of a discrimination that has no place in this world. We will aggressively push for the maximum compensation available to you. If you believe that you have been racially discriminated against, contact the California Labor Law Employment Attorneys Group.
We offer a free consultation with no financial obligation and the zero-fee guarantee. This puts all of the financial risk on us, not you. If we do not prove your case and win, you do not pay for our services. If we do win, then we only collect a small fee on the amount collected. This is my attorney's office.
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