EEOC

What the EEOC does

The EEOC was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and opened in 1965. It is led by a five-member commission appointed by the President, plus a General Counsel who directs its litigation, and it works through district, area and field offices around the country.

Its main jobs:

• Enforce federal anti-discrimination laws for private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions. Federal agency employees use a separate internal complaint process that the EEOC oversees.
• Receive and investigate charges from applicants and employees who believe they were discriminated against or retaliated against.
• Resolve charges through mediation, settlement and conciliation.
• Litigate selected cases in federal court, typically systemic cases or those with broad impact.
• Issue regulations and guidance on topics such as harassment, disability accommodation and pregnancy accommodation.
• Collect workforce data, most notably through the EEO-1 report.

Laws the EEOC enforces

The agency enforces these federal laws in employment:

• [Title VII](/glossary/title-vii/) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity) and national origin.
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which amended Title VII.
• Equal Pay Act of 1963: equal pay for substantially equal work regardless of sex.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA): workers 40 and older.
• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA): disability, including the duty to provide reasonable accommodation.
• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA): genetic information, including family medical history.
• Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), effective June 2023: reasonable accommodation for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions.

All of these laws also prohibit retaliation against people who complain, file a charge or take part in an investigation. Retaliation is consistently the most frequently alleged basis in EEOC charges.

Who is covered

Coverage depends on the law and the employer's size. Title VII, the ADA, GINA and the PWFA cover employers with 15 or more employees. The ADEA covers employers with 20 or more. The Equal Pay Act covers almost all employers regardless of size.

Applicants are covered as well as employees, which matters for recruiting. A candidate who was never hired can file an EEOC charge about a job ad, a screening question, an assessment or an interview. Staffing agencies are covered as employment agencies, and both an agency and its client can be responsible for the same discriminatory act.

How an EEOC charge works

1. Inquiry and intake. The person contacts the EEOC, usually through the online public portal, and has an intake interview.
2. Filing deadline. A charge generally must be filed within 180 calendar days of the alleged discrimination. The deadline extends to 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination. Equal Pay Act claims can go directly to court, generally within two years (three for willful violations).
3. Notice to the employer. The EEOC notifies the employer, usually within 10 days, through its respondent portal.
4. Mediation. Many charges are offered voluntary, confidential mediation early on. If both sides agree and settle, the charge is closed.
5. Position statement and investigation. If not mediated, the employer typically submits a written position statement with supporting documents. The EEOC may request information, interview witnesses or visit the site.
6. Determination. The EEOC either issues a dismissal with a Notice of Right to Sue or finds reasonable cause. After a cause finding, it tries conciliation, then decides whether to sue.
7. Right to sue. For Title VII, ADA and GINA claims, the charging party usually has 90 days after receiving the notice to file a lawsuit.

Many states have their own fair employment agencies with work-sharing agreements, so a charge filed with one is often dual-filed with the other.

What employers should do when a charge arrives

Take it seriously from day one. Preserve every relevant record immediately: the requisition, applications, interview notes, scorecards, assessment results, emails and chat messages. Put a litigation hold on deletion schedules. Bring in employment counsel before writing the position statement, because what you say there will follow you into any lawsuit.

Do not retaliate, and make sure managers understand what that means. Changing a complainant's schedule, excluding them from overtime or giving them a sudden poor review after a charge is filed can create a second claim that is easier to prove than the first. Consider mediation seriously; it is free, fast and confidential.

Rules vary by state, and this is general information, not legal advice.

How to lower EEOC risk in hiring

Most hiring-related charges trace back to inconsistency or undocumented decisions. Use the same structured interview questions and scorecards for every candidate in a role. Validate assessments against the job and monitor pass rates by group for adverse impact. Train hiring managers on what not to ask: age, family plans, religion, national origin, disability or medical history. Keep applicant records for at least the period federal rules require, which is one year from the record or decision for most private employers.

For broader context on the principle behind all of this, see equal employment opportunity.