EEOC Complaint Filed What To DO?

scottorr

We have an ee out on STD for a severe mental illness. We pay our ees there full salary when they are out on STD. She has filed a complaint with the EEOC for sexual discrimination. I do not have a clue as to what evidence she could possibly use to substanciate her claim. Is there anything I should do to get ready? My concern is that I can not reveal her mental illness as evidence. What would you do?

safety

I would conduct an investigation to be clear that you have done your part to protect all workers from any hostile work environment. I would also review, train and document all ee's on your anti-harassment policy. By the way, just how is she saying she was sexually discriminated? Did your company deny her sex? Sorry, I'm in the wrong forum.

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-19-03 AT 09:46AM (CST)[/font][p]You wait until you get the official charge document from the EEOC. Nice fat envelope with that bold blue lettering and seal. The one that makes everybody twitch and reach for the immodium.

If she filed, and its not simply a rumor, you will get a written charge notice with their request for production of records and position statement. Read it and see what they want. Run it by your attorney (and you'll get lots of argument on that on the Forum). In the case of an official EEOC investigation you may reveal to them whatever you need to, even your medical file if it is your defense.

LeeR

I have been through 5 of these EEOC claims. They will send you a notification letter informing you of the claim, instructing you on what material to include with your response and when the material is due. If the ee has informed them that he/she is willing to negotiate they will inform you of this also. My responses usually 4-5 in thick when all included. Have never had an adverse ruling (knock on wood). ee has a right to file complaint based on his/her perception of the events and EEOC has an obligation to investigate. Hope it works out. Of course it should go without saying that Corporate lawyer reviews all paperwork prior to sending to EEOC. Hope that helps. Really nothing to be upset about.

Parabeagle

I feel for you, Scott. Going through the same thing myself right now. All I've done so far is conduct my investigation and I'm waiting on the EEOC to set a date for mediation. Trust me. These things may look bad at the outset, but if you're dealing with a reasonable EEOC office (yes, they do exist) it can be relatively painless. Good luck.

gillian2

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-19-03 AT 10:28AM (CST)[/font][p]Yes, wait for the complaint and request for documents to arrive. Since the EEOC doesn't know what they need they will ask for all sorts of stuff which is completely irrelevant. Call them and tell your side of the story and that there is a lot of material they have asked for which is not necessary. They will usually agree that you can send in less stuff. Write your answer in the order in which is asked and send it in. And, contrary opinion as predicted by Don, unless this is especially complex you don't need an attorney. They tend to gum up the works and get adversarial, but you may need that later. The last one that I did was for my former employer, the President of whom insisted that General Counsel review everything. The yo-yo added employment at will language as if that had anything to do with the complaint. I removed it before it went in. Just think of that an EEOC person would have thought of that. We did just fine.

Finally, don't visit them in your soccer uniform.

Don D

I know things are done differently in California; however, reversing the decision of the corporate lawyer or deleting his language from a position paper is a totally foreign concept to me, and I suspect, to most.

marc

I admit to some confusion regarding when the state agency that handles these types of issues and EEOC step in, but the one experience I had with a harassment claim started with an in-house accusation. We did a thorough investigation, including a discussion with our lawyer. She indicated that in the case of the state agency, they ordinarily required the ee to go completely through the in-house process prior to seeking other relief. It appears from the discussion in this thread, that the EEOC does not follow a similar process. Am I correct?

Parabeagle

I think agency jurisdiction depends on the filing. For example, if you file a claim in this state with the Bureau of Labor and Industries (our state agency), it is concurrently filed with EEOC automatically, but if the CP goes straight to the Feds I don't know if the state gets involved.

scottorr

The person filing the claim never lodged a complaint prior to her FMLA. She still has not returned to work. The only thing I can think is that prior to her going out, she had requested to change to a different department that didn't, and still does not have an opening.

Pork

SCOTTORR: In four years of representing this company, I have personally handle three EEOC filings. All three were surprises; none were run by our corporate lawyer. The minute you engage the sand begins to run and the clock is underway; it is now a "RAINMAKER" (MISSISSIPPI'S JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL)as previously posted all sorts of legal things and slow talking proposals and research on issues begin to build the time and the expense! When you reach the level of going to trial or mediation that is when the "attorney dawg" can earn his minutes of service at $150.00 per hour or more! I settled the first one and presented the facts and company position on the claims for the other two which caused the EEOC to issue a "right to sue" letter, but nothing has ever come of them and the EEOC did not exercise their option to sue us on the behalf of the employee. I consider that situation a win oon our part.

Keepus posted!

PORK

gillian2

You haven't met that attorney. I have.

Don D

We are the only state without a state department of labor so there is no parallel redundancy in the process. These charges go directly to the EEOC and they don't require that the compainant run any particular gauntlet with the company prior to filing their charge. Typically it comes out of the blue, unannounced entirely, which is fine. I reckon I have 'participated' in 35 of these over the years in agency work and private employment and only had one conciliatory agreement result on the negative side. Wait for the formal charge to appear in your mailbox, read it thoroughly, see what it is she says you did 0r did not do and what basis she claims for discrimination and respond as has been suggested. You will get an ulcer trying to figure out who shot John before you get an actual charge. And yoy may never get one.

Sunny

Scott: You may want to wait for the formal complaint or you may want to call the EEO to get more information. Do you have a union? We have had people go to EEO without going through the grievance procedure. When we notified the EEO of that, by telephone, they kicked the complaint until procedures were followed. Good luck - remember - they can kill you but they can't eat you.

Rockie

Scott: First of all, don't panic. In the course of your career, you will receive more than one of these, I will assure you. Most of them have absolutely no merit.

First of all, it costs the employee nothing to file one of these complaints whether they have merit or not. Most people file these to "get back" at an employer for a perceived injustice. Rarely do current employees file one. I recently had one file one for racial and sexual discrimination because we would not allow him to leave work early every day to pick up his child by 5PM. We had good documentation where, on several occasions, we had talked with him about this situation and did offer some compromises, but not what he wanted. We won this case without any problem.

If you don't know anything about the complaint, hopefully it means it was never discussed with the employer, if, in fact it did exist. I would just wait until I received the paperwork to see exactly what the charges are and then proceed from there.

Good luck!