what to do if you feel you ve been discriminated against at work
if you believe you ve been discriminated against at work because of your race color religion sex including pregnancy gender identity and sexual orientation national origin age 40 or older disability or genetic information then you can file a charge of discrimination with the eeoc this is a signed statement describing how an employer union or labor organization engaged in employment discrimination that asks the eeoc to take remedial action all of the laws enforced by the eeoc except for the equal pay act require you to file a charge of discrimination before you can file a job discrimination lawsuit against your employer 13there are time limits of either 180 or 300 calendar days depending on certain circumstances 14 you can file a charge through the eeoc public portal after you submit an online inquiry and have an intake interview with an eeoc staff member 15examples of eeoc jurisdictionthe eeoc may specifically investigate not only employers for violations but also members of their staff accused of engaging in harassment or discrimination 16 for example if a manager refuses to interview or hire qualified job candidates solely because of their ethnicity or race then the employer can be held accountable for allowing racist behavior to persist this also can be applied to employers who permit harassment to continue unchecked and although the eeoc itself says that independent contractors are not subject to anti discrimination laws 16 in 2009 the u s second circuit court of appeals ruled in halpert v manhattan apartments that companies can be held liable for independent contractors who act on their behalf 17the eeoc has filed lawsuits against companies where corrective action was not taken after derogatory slurs threats assaults unwanted sexual comments or inappropriate touching occurred in the workplace companies also can be penalized for not warning employees about past misconduct committed by another employee or manager with whom they are directed to work eeoc lawsuits might seek monetary damages including punitive and compensatory damages and injunctive relief in fiscal year 2020 the eeoc received 67 448 charges of workplace discrimination with 38 of claims being allegations of discrimination based on race or color 18 charges for sex based harassment which includes charges for sexual harassment clocked in at 11 497 down by nearly 1 300 from 2019 19the eeoc is open to attempts to settle cases before the issue is investigated and possibly taken to trial it offers a mediation procedure an informal process in which two parties can work with a neutral mediator to see if they can reach a reconciliation of their differences the mediator doesn t ultimately make a determination however serving only to help the two parties reach a settlement on their own if mediation fails then the eeoc proceeds to formally investigate the complaint 20