Discrimination Complaint Process

Running head: DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT PROCESS

Discrimination Complaint Process

Jim Smith

University of Phoenix

Discrimination Complaint Process

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a scenario in which an employee decides to file a discrimination complaint against his employer. John is an employee of a private sector organization. This paper will explain the process of filing a complaint, the civil litigation process, and give the steps for filing this complaint.

After reviewing this scenario, there are no details given to what type of complaint John wants to file. The only information that is gathered is that John represents a male subject, he is employed by a private sector organization, and that this discrimination complaint is directed toward his employer. Other than those three pieces of information, there is nothing else to base a complaint on.

According to The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website, "Any individual who believes that his or her employment rights have been violated may file a charge of discrimination" (EEOC, 2006). A discrimination complaint can be filed with the EEOC, if the person believes that they have been discriminated against because of race, color, gender, religion, or national origin. The complaint would be in regards to hiring, firing, training, discipline, compensation, benefits, classification, or other terms of or condition of employment.

The discriminatory practices show bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, or even termination. Other types of harassment can include compensation or other various types of harassment. There are several steps one must take when filing a complaint.

Step one of the complaint has John filing a complaint with the EEOC. John will have 180

days from the date of the discriminatory incident to file a claim with the EEOC (EEOC, 2006). After the claim has been filed, the EEOC contracts out with state and other enforcement agencies that are called "706" agencies. This is to assist in filtering out invalid claims. The 706 agencies got the name after section 706 of the title VII act (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2003, p. 89). In this first step, conciliation of a valid claim will result in the attempt to try and resolve through discussion with out resort to litigation. If this process is followed by John, he will then have 300 days from the date of the original filing of the discriminatory incident to file a claim.

Step two of the process has the EEOC serve notice to the employer. With the complaint

filed, John's employer will now be notified within 10 days of the claim. At this time, John's employer will be informed of any anti-retaliation provisions, "which will make it illegal to treat an employee adversely because the employee pursued his rights" under Title VII" (p. 89).

Step three of the complaint process has the EEOC refer the opposing parties to mediation. This is the next step in the claim process, as the EEOC will try and attempt to save on time and money by filtering out invalid claims. The EEOC will attempt to recommend mediation between the two parties first. Each party will have 10 days to respond to the medication referral; if at that time, both parties agree, then the mediation begins with 45 to 60 days, depending on the mediation being handled internally or externally (p.90).

Step four of the complaint process has the EEOC investigate the claim. In this next step of the process, if the parties both reject mediation, the EEOC then starts to investigate the claim by interviewing the employer, employee and any witnesses to see if there is a reasonable cause (p.90).

Step five of the complaint process deals with reasonable or non-reasonable findings. If the

EEOC finds reasonable cause, the EEOC will recommend conciliation. This is similar to the first step mentioned earlier in this paper. According