The EEOC is tasked with enforcing civil rights laws against discrimination in the workplace. If you feel you are being discriminated against at work, watch this video by dedicated Phoenix employment lawyer Quacy Smith to learn more about the EEOC and how to bring a claim. Read Our FREE Employment Law Guide
EEOC stands for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is a government entity that is run by a group of commissioners. It’s a federal agency established under the laws of the United States of America.
They are charged with the responsibility of monitoring. They are the gatekeepers for lawsuits against employers that meet certain criteria that is based on a very few specific set of laws. In fact, the set of laws and statutes that the EEOC is responsible for being the gatekeepers over is really only five laws. It includes the Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Equal Pay Act; also the Genetic Information Act, which is commonly referred to as GINA. Out of those five sets of laws, predominantly is where we derive what we call equal employment law.
The EEOC is a third-party neutral agency that is charged with the responsibility of investigating claims against employers, and/or receiving these claims from employees that feel like they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly, based on those five sets of laws. It’s out of those laws where you get equal pay issues, sexual harassment claims that fall under Title 7, or disability. If you are disabled, according to what the ADA says, it would come to the EEOC.
As those claims are brought before the EEOC (and there are certain statutory limitations that apply) they’re charged with investigating those crimes. They have a team of investigators that will investigate those claims and see if there was actually a violation of the law. If there’s a violation of the law, they’ll issue what they call a cause finding on those laws and then they pursue the employer for the employee. In some cases, if they’re not able to mediate or conciliate the case, they’ll issue a notice of right to sue, which gives you the right to go sue the employer in state of federal court on your own.
One of the reasons why the EEOC is important is that, based on one of those five laws, you cannot just walk into court and sue an employer based on one of those five laws. You would have to get a notice of right to sue, as it’s called, from the EEOC. Once a notice of right to sue is issued, you would have 90 days from that time to file a lawsuit against the employer in a federal or a state court.
Are you experiencing discrimination in the workplace and have questions about the EEOC or how to bring a claim? Contact our dedicated Phoenix employment lawyers for a free confidential consultation and let our experience work for you.
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