Discrimination lawsuits have a statute of limitations that varies depending on the situation. The EEOC must be notified within 180 days, or 300 days if a state or local law is violated. Companies may have their own internal process, and state and federal employees must file an internal grievance before contacting the EEOC. It is best to file as quickly as possible, and anything excluded from the EEOC claim form is inadmissible in court.
Determining the statute of limitations for discrimination lawsuits is a little more difficult to determine than for other types of civil actions. To file a discrimination action, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) must be notified in writing within 180 days of the date the discrimination is claimed to have occurred. When the charge also violates a state or local law, however, the statute of limitations is extended to 300 days. From that point, the EEOC will investigate the request during a discovery period to determine if there is cause for a lawsuit and, if there is sufficient evidence available, will also attempt to negotiate a settlement or proceed to court for a trial. If the EEOC does not find enough evidence to file a discrimination lawsuit, a “right to sue” notice will be issued, giving the plaintiff an additional 90 days to file a lawsuit in state or federal court.
Because there are so many variables related to the statute of limitations on discrimination, it is in the plaintiff’s best interest to file as quickly as possible when a civil law violation is anticipated. This initial discovery process does not require legal representation from an outside source, but many applicants feel more comfortable having an attorney speak on their behalf at the EEOC. In some regions, it is also possible to file some discrimination lawsuits in federal court without first contacting the EEOC with the applicable state terms previously mentioned.
Many public and private sector companies also have an internal process that must be followed and, of course, each of them defines its own statute of limits on discrimination. While this process is not required to file with the EEOC, it does allow companies the ability to identify and correct potential problems before the situation is magnified. State and federal employees are required by law to file an internal grievance before contacting the EEOC, but they can also hire an attorney to represent them throughout the process. The internal statute of limits on discrimination within these types of agencies also varies, but is often 30 days from the time of the infraction.
In many cases, the limitation period for discrimination is difficult to determine, as a claimant can point to a chain of events that occurred over several months or even years. For example, if an employee faces several minor instances of discrimination, it may not be sufficient to file an individual grievance, but if a more serious form of discrimination later occurs, those initial incidents should be mentioned in writing. The reasoning behind this rationale is that anything excluded from the EEOC claim form is inadmissible in court, whether or not it falls within the statute of limitations of discrimination.
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