How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination U S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

EEOC's Public Portal enables individuals to submit online inquiries and online requests for intake interviews with EEOC, and to submit and receive documents and messages related to their EEOC charge of discrimination. EEOC launched the system nationwide on November 1, 2017, after piloting the system in five EEOC offices since March 13, 2017. An EEOC staff member will prepare a charge using the information you provide, which you can review and sign online by logging into your account. A charge of discrimination is a signed statement asserting that an organization engaged in employment discrimination. The laws enforced by EEOC, except for the Equal Pay Act, require you to file a charge before you can file a lawsuit for unlawful discrimination.

The charge filing process:

Unauthorized or improper use of this system is prohibited and may result in disciplinary action and/or civil and criminal penalties. Personal use of social media and networking sites on this system is limited as to not interfere with official work duties and is subject to monitoring. The laws enforced by the  EEOC require the agency to accept charges alleging employment discrimination.

• Offices assign cases to Administrative Judges based upon the order of receipt, as well as the workload of the office.
• Then upload your Notice of Right to Request a Hearing document.
• EEOC expects a reply from the representative within 10 days of sending a verification email.
• Updates regarding the 2025 EEO-4 data collection, including the opening date, will be posted to as they become available.

EEOC Public Portal

After you submit an online inquiry, you use the EEOC Public Portal to schedule an interview in person or by phone with an EEOC staff member. Just click "Schedule an Interview," which opens a calendar with available dates and times. We recommend that you schedule an interview with an EEOC representative to discuss the details of your situation. In our experience, an interview helps individuals make more informed decisions about whether to file a formal charge of discrimination. A Charge of Discrimination can be completed through our online system after you submit an online inquiry and we interview you. EEOC's Public Portal asks you a few questions to help determine whether EEOC is the right federal agency to handle your complaint involving employment discrimination.

For age discrimination, the filing deadline is only extended to 300 days if there is a state law prohibiting age discrimination in employment and a state agency or authority enforcing that law. The deadline is not extended if only a local law prohibits age discrimination. You will receive an email that will contain a hearing request number to use to refer to your case. The agency will also receive notice of your hearing request and will be required to submit its Report of Investigation to the EEOC within 15 days. When the Administrative Judge is assigned, you will receive an email. After your hearing request has been submitted, you can view details of your case by clicking on My Case in the EEOC Public Portal Home Page.

• Our firewalls use an advanced intrusion detection system (IDS) that defends against today's blended security threats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.
• The email will list the type of document, when it was uploaded, and instruct you to login to the Public Portal to access and view the document.
• In our experience, an interview helps individuals make more informed decisions about whether to file a formal charge of discrimination.
• EEOC's Public Portal enables individuals to submit online inquiries and online requests for intake interviews with EEOC, and to submit and receive documents and messages related to their EEOC charge of discrimination.

Federal Agencies

Where the discrimination took place can determine how long you have to file a charge. The 180-calendar-day filing deadline is extended to 300- calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a state or local law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis. The rules are slightly different for age discrimination charges.

How to Use the EEOC Public Portal to Submit an Online Inquiry

Scheduling an interview is strongly recommended and individuals with appointments will be given priority. You may file a charge of employment discrimination at the EEOC office closest to where you live, or at any one of the EEOC's 53 field offices. Your charge, however, may be investigated at the EEOC office closest to where the discrimination occurred. If you are a U.S. citizen working for an American company overseas, you should file your charge with the EEOC field eeoc portal office closest to your employer's corporate headquarters.

Individuals who are unresponsive within 15 minutes of their scheduled appointment times will be rescheduled. State and local governments that have not submitted and certified their mandatory 2023 EEO-4 report(s) must submit and certify their report as soon as possible, and no later than Tuesday, January 9, 2024. You can bring anyone you want to your meeting, especially if you need language assistance and know someone who can help. You can also bring your lawyer, although you don't have to hire a lawyer to file a charge. If you need special assistance during the meeting, like a sign language or foreign language interpreter, let us know ahead of time so we can arrange for someone to be there for you. The Administrative Judge will provide contact information in an order that will be sent to you.

We recommend you use your personal email as your user name for your account. Please keep your password in a safe place where you will be able to get it when you need it. Your representative will obtain his/her own EEOC Public Portal credentials. They can then download documents from the appellate record and submit documentation for the matter.

All documents can be submitted to the Portal and doing so allows you, your representative, the Administrative Judge, and the agency to easily review and track the entire case file. You can submit motions, responses to the agency’s motions and responses to the Administrative Judge’s orders through the Portal. You may do this through the My Documents section of the My Case page. You will receive an email to login to the Public Portal when a new document has been uploaded into the system by the EEOC or the agency. It’s important that you login to your account on the Portal in a timely manner to view new documents or required actions.

You will receive an email alert as soon as an Administrative Judge is assigned. If you have 60 days or fewer in which to file a timely charge, the EEOC Public Portal will provide special directions for providing necessary information to the EEOC and how to file your charge quickly. Our firewalls use an advanced intrusion detection system (IDS) that defends against today's blended security threats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. In addition, there are many layers of security monitoring from both inside and outside the network to ensure the immediate detection and rejection of unauthorized use. If you have a question related to the processing of your case prior to assignment of an Administrative Judge, click here for contact information of the EEOC offices.

If you file a charge with a FEPA, it will automatically be "dual-filed" with EEOC  if federal laws apply. Only EEOC authorized users can see case information in the Portal. Your representative and authorized agency representatives can see documents you and the EEOC have also submitted in your case. There is no set time for the completion of the hearing process.

The laws require the EEOC to notify an employer that a charge of discrimination has been filed against it. Many states and localities have agencies that enforce laws prohibiting employment discrimination. EEOC refers to these agencies as Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). EEOC and some FEPAs have worksharing agreements in place to prevent the duplication of effort in charge processing. According to these agreements, if you file a charge with either EEOC or a FEPA, the charge also will be automatically filed with the other agency. This process, which is defined as dual filing, helps to protect charging party rights under both federal and state or local law.

If your case is already assigned to an Administrative Judge, you may contact him/her directly. Answer the next few questions, and then create an account for your case by entering your contact information. Please use the same email for your Portal Account that you currently have been using for your pending case. Most smart phones have a scanning app that you can use to scan a document and then upload to your account in the EEOC Public Portal.