Discrimination-Based Wrongful Termination: Filing an EEOC Charge

To file an EEOC complaint for wrongful termination, you submit a Charge of Discrimination to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 180 days of your firing, or 300 days if your state has its own anti-discrimination enforcement agency.¹ The fastest way in is the EEOC Public Portal, where you submit an initial inquiry, complete an intake interview, and then sign the formal charge. There is no filing fee.²

Know Your Filing Deadline

The clock starts on the date of the discriminatory action. For a termination, that is the date you were fired. You have 180 calendar days to file. That extends to 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting discrimination on the same basis.¹ Most states have such an agency, so 300 days is the more common deadline, but confirm yours rather than assuming.

Age discrimination has a wrinkle. The extension to 300 days only applies if a state law and a state agency specifically address age discrimination. A local ordinance alone does not trigger the longer window.¹ Weekends and holidays count toward the deadline, but if the final day falls on a weekend or holiday, you get until the next business day.

Dual filing is automatic in most states. Worksharing agreements between the EEOC and state Fair Employment Practices Agencies mean a charge filed with one is treated as filed with both.³ Whichever agency receives your charge usually handles the investigation, and your rights under both federal and state law are preserved.

Miss the deadline and your claim is generally barred permanently. If you are close to the cutoff, file first and refine later. The EEOC can follow up with you for missing details after the charge is on record.

What to Gather Before You File

Pulling your documentation together before you start makes the intake interview shorter and your charge stronger.

The employer’s full legal name, physical address, and approximate number of employees. The employee count determines which federal laws apply.
A timeline with specific dates: when the discriminatory conduct occurred, when you were fired, and the names and titles of the supervisors involved.
Supporting documents: performance reviews, emails, text messages, disciplinary records, and any written communication that contradicts the reason your employer gave for firing you.
Names and contact information for coworkers or others who witnessed the conduct or can describe how similarly situated employees were treated differently.

When you draft your narrative, focus on what makes the firing discriminatory: who replaced you, whether policies were applied unevenly, and whether the timing followed something like a harassment complaint or a request for accommodation.

How to File the Charge

The standard route is the EEOC Public Portal. You start with an initial online inquiry, then an EEOC staff member interviews you to evaluate your situation and help prepare the formal charge.² Take the intake interview seriously. The staff member decides whether your situation fits the laws the EEOC enforces and helps you frame the strongest version of your claim. After the interview, you review the prepared charge in your portal account and sign it electronically. The official document is Form 5, the Charge of Discrimination.⁴

If you cannot use the portal, you can mail a signed letter to your nearest EEOC field office. Include your contact information, the employer’s details, a description of the discriminatory conduct, the relevant dates, and the basis for the claim (race, sex, age, disability, and so on). If the letter is thin on detail, the EEOC will follow up before processing it.²

Within 10 days of filing, the EEOC notifies your former employer and issues a unique charge number.⁵ Save that number. You will need it for every future communication with the agency, including any request for a right-to-sue letter.

What Happens After You File

Mediation

Before a full investigation begins, the EEOC may offer mediation. It is confidential and voluntary, and a neutral mediator helps both sides explore a resolution without the power to impose one.⁶ Sessions are not recorded or transcribed, and the program is kept separate from the EEOC’s investigation and litigation staff. Nothing said in mediation can be used against you later.

Mediated cases have historically resolved in roughly three months on average, compared to well over six months for the standard investigative path. Settlements can include financial compensation, reinstatement, policy changes, or a combination. If mediation fails or either party declines, the charge moves into a formal investigation as though mediation never happened.

Investigation and the Position Statement

The EEOC assigns an investigator who gathers evidence, requests documents, and interviews people involved. Your employer will submit a position statement explaining the reasons for the termination. You have the right to review that statement and its non-confidential attachments; the EEOC redacts confidential information before sharing.⁷

You then have 30 days to submit a written rebuttal, focused on the facts and pointing to specific documents and evidence that support your version or undermine the employer’s.⁷ Your rebuttal is not shared with the employer during the investigation. If you need more time, ask the investigator early and confirm any extension in writing. Do not skip this step. The rebuttal is your best chance to flag inconsistencies while the investigator is still actively reviewing the file.

Determination

Investigations average around 10 months, and complex ones take longer. At the end, the EEOC issues one of two determinations.

If it finds reasonable cause to believe discrimination occurred, both parties receive a Letter of Determination inviting them into conciliation, a confidential settlement process. Conciliation is voluntary. If it fails, the EEOC decides whether to sue on your behalf. The agency litigates fewer than 8 percent of cases where it found discrimination and conciliation did not resolve the matter, so most claimants file their own lawsuit even after a favorable finding.⁸

If the EEOC does not find reasonable cause, it issues a Dismissal and Notice of Rights. That closes the administrative case and gives you 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal court.⁵ The 90-day clock runs from when you receive the notice, not from when the EEOC mails it. Keep proof of the delivery date. Missing this deadline usually ends your right to go to court.⁹

Requesting an Early Right-to-Sue Letter

You do not have to wait for the EEOC to finish. Once 180 days have passed since you filed your charge, you can request a Notice of Right to Sue, and the EEOC is required to issue it.⁹ The request goes through the Public Portal or by mail to the office handling your charge. Even before 180 days, the EEOC may grant the notice if it determines it cannot finish within that period. Many attorneys request the letter early, because investigations can stretch past a year and federal court gives you more control over the pace.

If You Work for the Federal Government

The federal-sector process is different, and the deadlines are much tighter. You must contact an EEO Counselor at your agency within 45 days of the discriminatory action.¹⁰ The counselor will offer a choice between informal EEO counseling and an alternative dispute resolution option such as mediation. If it does not resolve there, you file a formal complaint with your agency’s EEO office within 15 days of receiving the counselor’s notice. The agency then has 180 days to investigate.

After the investigation, you can request a hearing before an EEOC Administrative Judge or ask the agency to issue a final decision. You can appeal a final agency order to the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations within 30 days of receiving it.¹⁰ Once you exhaust the administrative process, you have 90 days from the final decision to file in federal court.

Retaliation Protection After Filing

Filing an EEOC charge is itself a protected activity. Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, cut your hours, reassign you to a worse position, or take any other action that would discourage a reasonable person from pursuing a discrimination claim.¹¹ If retaliation happens after you file, you can add a separate EEOC charge based on the retaliatory conduct. It carries its own timeline and its own potential remedies.

1
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Dual Filing
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Form 5 – Charge of Discrimination
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Can Expect After a Charge is Filed
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Questions And Answers About Mediation
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Questions and Answers for Charging Parties on EEOC’s New Position Statement Procedures
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know: The EEOC, Conciliation, and Litigation
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Filing a Lawsuit
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Overview Of Federal Sector EEO Complaint Process
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues