Age Discrimination, Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, WV Human Rights Act, WV Human Rights Commission

The Roles of the EEOC and the West Virginia Human Rights Commission in Workplace Discrimination Claims

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Work­place dis­crim­i­na­tion is a seri­ous issue, and employ­ees who believe they’ve been treat­ed unfair­ly often turn to the Equal Employ­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion (“EEOC”) or the West Vir­ginia Human Rights Com­mis­sion (“HRC”) for help. But what exact­ly do the EEOC and HRC do, and how does the com­plaint process work? Whether you’re an employ­er try­ing to stay com­pli­ant or an employ­ee con­sid­er­ing fil­ing a claim, it is impor­tant to under­stand the EEOC’s and HRC’s roles.

What Is the EEOC?

The EEOC is the fed­er­al agency respon­si­ble for enforc­ing anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws in the work­place. It inves­ti­gates com­plaints of dis­crim­i­na­tion based on race, sex, age, dis­abil­i­ty, nation­al ori­gin, reli­gion, and oth­er pro­tect­ed char­ac­ter­is­tics under laws like:

  • Title VII of the Civ­il Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e‑2)
  • The Age Dis­crim­i­na­tion in Employ­ment Act (ADEA) (29 U.S.C. § 623)
  • The Amer­i­cans with Dis­abil­i­ties Act (ADA) (42 U.S.C. § 12112)

The agency also enforces laws pro­hibit­ing retal­i­a­tion, mean­ing an employ­er can’t pun­ish an employ­ee for fil­ing a com­plaint or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an investigation.

How the EEOC Complaint Process Works

1. Filing a Charge

An employ­ee who believes they’ve been dis­crim­i­nat­ed against must file a charge with the EEOC before suing in court. The com­plaint must be filed with­in 180 days of the alleged dis­crim­i­na­to­ry act, though this extends to 300 days if a state agency, like the West Vir­ginia Human Rights Com­mis­sion, also enforces sim­i­lar laws (42 U.S.C. § 2000e‑5(e)(1)).

Employ­ees can file com­plaints online, by mail, or at an EEOC office. In West Vir­ginia, the near­est EEOC dis­trict office is in Pitts­burgh, Pennsylvania.

2. Employer Notification and Response

Once a charge is filed, the EEOC noti­fies the employ­er and allows them to respond. Employ­ers should take this process seri­ous­ly and pro­vide thor­ough doc­u­men­ta­tion refut­ing any claims if they believe the alle­ga­tions are unfounded.

3. Investigation

The EEOC will inves­ti­gate the claim, which may involve:

  • Inter­view­ing witnesses
  • Review­ing employ­ment records
  • Con­duct­ing on-site visits

Inves­ti­ga­tions typ­i­cal­ly take 10 months or more, depend­ing on the com­plex­i­ty of the case.

4. Mediation or Settlement

Before or dur­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion, the EEOC may sug­gest medi­a­tion to resolve the issue with­out for­mal legal action. Medi­a­tion is vol­un­tary but can save both par­ties time and legal expenses.

5. Finding of Cause or No Cause

After inves­ti­gat­ing, the EEOC issues one of two findings:

  • “No Rea­son­able Cause”: If the EEOC doesn’t find enough evi­dence to sup­port the claim, the employ­ee is giv­en a right-to-sue let­ter, allow­ing them to pur­sue a law­suit in fed­er­al court with­in 90 days (42 U.S.C. § 2000e‑5(f)(1)).
  • “Rea­son­able Cause”: If the EEOC finds evi­dence of dis­crim­i­na­tion, it may try to nego­ti­ate a set­tle­ment or file a law­suit on the employee’s behalf.

What Employers Should Know

  • Keep records: Good doc­u­men­ta­tion of hir­ing, dis­ci­pline, and ter­mi­na­tion deci­sions can help defend against EEOC claims.
  • Train super­vi­sors: Many dis­crim­i­na­tion claims arise from poor man­age­ment deci­sions, so prop­er train­ing can pre­vent legal issues.
  • Respond prompt­ly: Employ­ers should nev­er ignore an EEOC com­plaint. A well-pre­pared response can help resolve issues early.

What Employees Should Know

  • Be time­ly: Miss­ing the 180-day or 300-day dead­line can result in a case being dismissed.
  • Gath­er evi­dence: Emails, wit­ness state­ments, and past per­for­mance reviews can strength­en a case.
  • Under­stand the lim­its: The EEOC doesn’t guar­an­tee job rein­state­ment or dam­ages, but it can help employ­ees get their day in court.

Conclusion for the EEOC

The EEOC plays a cru­cial role in ensur­ing fair treat­ment in the work­place. While its com­plaint process can take time, it serves as a nec­es­sary step for many employ­ees seek­ing jus­tice. Employ­ers, mean­while, should take proac­tive steps to ensure com­pli­ance and han­dle com­plaints appro­pri­ate­ly. By under­stand­ing the EEOC’s role, both sides can nav­i­gate work­place dis­putes more effectively.

Process for the West Virginia Human Rights Commission

Fil­ing a charge of employ­ment dis­crim­i­na­tion with the West Vir­ginia Human Rights Com­mis­sion (“WVHRC”) involves a defined process aimed at address­ing alleged vio­la­tions of the West Vir­ginia Human Rights Act (“WVHRA”), W. Va. Code § 16B-17–1 et seq (pre­vi­ous­ly at 5–11‑1). Below, I out­line the steps for fil­ing a charge, the commission’s pro­ce­dures, and the charg­ing party’s right to pur­sue legal action.

Filing the Charge

1. Initiating the Complaint:

Any indi­vid­ual who believes they have been sub­ject­ed to unlaw­ful dis­crim­i­na­tion in employ­ment can file a charge with the WVHRC. The charge may be filed in per­son, by mail, or through oth­er des­ig­nat­ed sub­mis­sion meth­ods. The WVHRC gen­er­al­ly requires a writ­ten, signed state­ment detail­ing the alleged dis­crim­i­na­to­ry acts, the iden­ti­ty of the employ­er or oth­er respon­dent, and the dates and nature of the incidents.

2. Timeframe for Filing:

The charge must be filed with­in 365 days of the alleged dis­crim­i­na­to­ry act. Fail­ing to meet this dead­line could result in the dis­missal of the claim unless equi­table tolling or anoth­er excep­tion applies.

3. Filing with the EEOC:

For charges that may also fall under fed­er­al law, the WVHRC can cross-file the com­plaint with the Equal Employ­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion (“EEOC”), and vice ver­sa. This dual fil­ing arrange­ment ensures that claims are con­sid­ered under both state and fed­er­al anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws.

Processing the Charge

1. Initial Review and Investigation:

Once a charge is filed, the WVHRC con­ducts a pre­lim­i­nary review to ensure that it meets the juris­dic­tion­al and pro­ce­dur­al require­ments. If accept­ed, the charge is assigned to an inves­ti­ga­tor who gath­ers evi­dence, inter­views wit­ness­es, and col­lects rel­e­vant doc­u­men­ta­tion from both parties.

2. Mediation and Conciliation Efforts:

Before or dur­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, the WVHRC may offer medi­a­tion ser­vices to help the par­ties reach a mutu­al­ly agree­able res­o­lu­tion. If medi­a­tion fails or is declined, the com­mis­sion con­tin­ues with the investigation.

3. Findings and Determination:

After com­plet­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, the WVHRC issues a deter­mi­na­tion. If the com­mis­sion finds prob­a­ble cause to believe that dis­crim­i­na­tion occurred, it will attempt to resolve the mat­ter through con­cil­i­a­tion. If con­cil­i­a­tion efforts fail, the case may pro­ceed to an admin­is­tra­tive hearing.

4. Administrative Hearings and Remedies:

If the charge is not resolved through medi­a­tion or con­cil­i­a­tion, the WVHRC may sched­ule a pub­lic hear­ing before an admin­is­tra­tive law judge. This hear­ing allows both par­ties to present evi­dence, call wit­ness­es, and make argu­ments. The com­mis­sion can order reme­dies such as back pay, rein­state­ment, com­pen­sato­ry dam­ages, and attorney’s fees if dis­crim­i­na­tion is proven.

Right to File Suit

1. Right to Sue after 180 Days:

If the WVHRC has not resolved the charge with­in 180 days from the date it was filed, the charg­ing par­ty may request a notice of right to sue. This notice per­mits the indi­vid­ual to file a law­suit in state court under the WVHRA.

2. Bypassing the WVHRC Process:

The West Vir­ginia Supreme Court has ruled that the WV HRC charge process is not manda­to­ry, and a per­son can choose not to file a charge with the HRC, and may instead file a suit based on vio­la­tions of the HRC with­in 2 years after the events in issue. That is dif­fer­ent from the fed­er­al law on the fed­er­al anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws, where fil­ing a charge with the EEOC is manda­to­ry (“juris­dic­tion­al pre­req­ui­site”), and the fail­ure to file an EEOC charge pre­cludes the per­son from fil­ing suit under the fed­er­al anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws.

3. Filing a Lawsuit in Circuit Court:

Assum­ing the charg­ing par­ty has filed a HRC charge, the law­suit must be filed with­in two years of the alleged dis­crim­i­na­to­ry act or with­in 90 days of receiv­ing the right-to-sue notice, whichev­er is lat­er. In court, the plain­tiff may seek all reme­dies avail­able under the WVHRA, includ­ing eco­nom­ic dam­ages, noneco­nom­ic dam­ages, and, in some cas­es, puni­tive dam­ages, and attor­neys’ fees.

Conclusion for the West Virginia Human Rights Commission

The WVHRC pro­vides a com­pre­hen­sive admin­is­tra­tive process designed to address employ­ment dis­crim­i­na­tion claims. How­ev­er, the charg­ing par­ty retains the right to file suit, either after a cer­tain peri­od or from the out­set. This dual path­way ensures that indi­vid­u­als alleg­ing dis­crim­i­na­tion have both an admin­is­tra­tive forum and a judi­cial avenue for seek­ing jus­tice under West Virginia’s anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion laws.

Drew M. Capuder
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