Filing a Charge of Discrimination with an Appropriate Agency

With very few exceptions, the first step in pursuing a case for employment discrimination, as required by the relevant statutes (whether federal or Pennsylvania), is to file an “administrative charge” with one of the appropriate agencies. This applies if the claim is about age discrimination, sex discrimination, race discrimination, disability discrimination, national origin discrimination, pregnancy discrimination or religious discrimination. The filing with the agency initiates an investigation of the charge. The law mandates that such a charge be filed before the complaining person has the right to file a lawsuit in court.

Depending on which law is involved, the filing of the charge must be made within either 180 days or 300 days of the wrongful act about which the charge is being made.

At a minimum, for cases in Pennsylvania, there are two agencies where a charge may be filed: the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Both have offices in Philadelphia, not far from each other. In addition, if the place of employment was in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is also an available agency.

Although all three of these agencies follow the same laws, they do not all proceed with their investigation of the charge of discrimination in an identical manner. They are all supposed to conduct what is known as a “fact finding” conference as an early part of the investigation. It is important to have legal representation at such a conference, even though it is not required. Generally speaking, a person’s rights are better served if that person has a lawyer representing him or her at every stage of the case, including the administrative agency level.

Regardless of which agency the charge is filed with, an investigation may take quite a long time. Most charges, if the investigation is allowed to reach its conclusion, result in a finding of “no probable cause.” This does not mean that the person filing the charge does not have a good cause of action. What it really means is that the agency itself will not pursue the claim on behalf of the individual who filed the charge.

Before the agency involved has finished its investigation, however, the person filing the charge may request that the EEOC issue what is known as a “Right to Sue” letter. This may be done after the appropriate amount of time has passed since the initial filing of the charge. (Even though the initial charge may be filed with the Pennsylvania or Philadelphia agency, it will be “cross-filed” with the EEOC and it is the EEOC which issues the “Right to Sue” letter.) Upon receipt of this letter, the person may then file a complaint in an appropriate court in order to pursue his or her claim against the employer. That lawsuit must be filed within 90 days of receipt of the Right to Sue letter. Once in a lawsuit, it is imperative to have legal representation.