Despite greater attention being paid to worker rights in Minnesota and across the U.S., workplace discrimination and employment discrimination is an ongoing problem. Frequently, victims are not certain as to what their rights are and how to go about filing a claim due to this type of discrimination. This can result in missing the time limits. For anyone who even suspects their employee rights were violated, knowing the time limits to file a charge is critical.
There is generally a time limit of 180 calendar days from when the discrimination took place. If, however, the enforcement is based on a law prohibiting employment discrimination and it is from a state or local agency, it can be extended to 300 days.
If the employee is trying to settle a dispute by using internal grievances, mediation, arbitration or any other alternative prior to filing the charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it will not impact the time limits. For that reason, people who are dealing with discrimination should think about going through the internal process and filing a claim simultaneously.
When a person has faced more than a single act of discrimination, the deadline will be applicable for each incident. Based on that, a person who is discriminated against and is demoted due to gender, age, race or other illegal reason and then was dismissed after 180 days have passed, the only complaint that can be lodged will be related to the dismissal. Therefore, it is vital to file immediately when there has been discrimination. Ongoing harassment is an exception.
With harassment, the person will still need to file in the relevant time limits. However, the EEOC will consider all incidents as the case is investigated and that includes ones that happened beyond the time constraints.
A common reason victims of employment discrimination, harassment and other violations fail to receive compensation or regain their job is that they were unaware of the time constraints related to filing a claim. Immediately after there has been any level of discrimination, knowing employment discrimination law in this vein is an integral part of a successful case.
