Discrimination complaint procedures and outcomes

Discrimination Complaint

One of the recent famous cases is the Waffle case now doing the rounds at the U.S. legal authorities. The case was finally fought by the lawyers for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the Supreme Court for Scotty Baker. He was hurt by an accident in November 1992 when his car overturned due to rain on a highway near his house. Apparently he just had a bump on his head, but later started having seizures. In 1994, he applied for a job at Waffle House, got it and turned it down. Then he got a similar job at Waffle House in West Columbia. He was hired immediately, and did not even have to fill out an application. Baker had mentioned his seizures and when he had it, he was fired from the job. Eight months later he consulted a lawyer about Waffle House discriminating against a disabled employee.

To protect their backs, Waffle House had put in an arbitration clause at the bottom of the application form. This mentioned that in the event of any disputes, the employee will have to go to an arbitration panel. This was compulsory like many other instances now. In the arbitration, baker would have to pay half the costs, and he was unemployed, and even when employed was getting only $5.50 an hour. This led him to Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and they sued Waffle House in the District Court in Columbia, S.C. They claimed that the company had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act as they had fired Baker due to the seizures he was getting. The company tried to move the case into arbitration, and the concerned judge ruled that Baker did not have to go to arbitration. (Millions are losing their legal rights)

As we can now see that this case was taken up by EEOC. That organization has now been authorized by the government to take charge of litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Civil Rights Act of 1991. (Laws Enforced by the EEOC) the charges of discrimination may be filed with EEOC by the person who believes that his or her employment rights have been violated, or even any individual, organization or agency may file the charge for the individual, so that the identity of the person who has suffered is able to protect the identity. The process of filing the charge may be by mail or directly at the nearest office of EEOC.

Individuals who do not have an accommodation at the place of filing may even inform the EEOC office so that the needed facilities can be provided. This accommodation is in terms of language interpreter, print materials, etc. The arrangement is for non-federal employees and the employees of the federal government should see the Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint Processing. The information required for filing a complaint is the name, telephone number, and address of the individual who is complaining. The same information for the employer, employment agency or union that has done the discrimination is also required along with the number of members, if known. A short description of the supposed violation has to be provided along with the dates of the supposed violation. (Filing a Charge of Employment Discrimination)

It is important to know that for all laws that come under the purview of EEOC are first filed with EEOC be filed with it before the courts, except the Equal Pay Act. At the same time, there are limits in time for filing of the suit and the first of these is that the suit must be filed within 180 days from the date of violation. This period is extended to 300 days if the charge is also covered by the state or local anti-discrimination law. For charges under ADEA, only the state limits are valid, and this may be 300 days. For the Equal Pay Act, there is no requirement for filing charges with the EEOC to be able to go to the court. Whenever any discrimination is suspected, it is best to directly approach EEOC. In addition to the laws listed above, many states and areas have anti-discrimination laws, and agencies to enforce them.

These are generally referred to as "Fair Employment Practice Agencies" by EEOC. They act in co-ordination with EEOC for duplication of effort to be avoided. This is through the practice of dual filing of the incident with EEOC by the FEPA when there are both state and federal laws relating to the crime. Similar dual filing is also done by EEOC when the case reaches it first. When the case involves U.S. citizens outside the territorial limit of the U.S., or the territories covered under the U.S. laws, then one can still file an application with EEOC at the nearest office of EEOC. When the nearest office is not known, then the charges may be filed with any other EEO office. (Filing a Charge of Employment Discrimination) it is thus clear that for all forms of discrimination, individuals have to first file charges with EEOC.