What's The EEOC's Job?

What is the job of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC)?  They say they are “responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.”  But what happens when the EEOC doesn’t do its job?  Who do you turn to then?  How can the EEOC enforce federal laws when they don’t take any action on the complaints they receive?  They become a part of the problem, not the solution.

Firstly, when the EEOC doesn’t do a proper investigation or an investigation at all on a complaint, they encourage and promote discrimination among employers who have the propensity to discriminate. When the EEOC issues a “right-to-sue” letter indicating that they could find no basis for the complaint when they in fact, have done no investigation of the circumstances or allegations beyond asking the employer themselves, they prejudice a complainant who chooses to pursue their complaint in a private lawsuit.  For a jury to hear that this governmental agency “investigated” and found “no basis” for the complaint, when in fact, no investigation was done, is detrimental to the case of a complainant.

I have had some experience dealing with the Charlotte, North Carolina EEOC office and its Director, Rueben Daniels Jr. and my experience has not been good.  A few years back I filed an EEOC class action complaint against a former employer.  I provided the agency with names, telephone numbers, dates, events and even kept them updated (by letter) when new things occurred.  Later on in the same year, I filed a second complaint against the same employer.  About two and a half years later, I got my “right-to-sue” letters.  I wanted to pursue the matter in a private lawsuit, so I requested a copy of my EEOC files through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  I recommend that anyone who files a complaint with the EEOC and gets a right-to-sue letter from the agency requests a copy of the record or file of that complaint.  You would be surprised what you’ll find!

I found that the EEOC did very little with my complaints for over two years.  The first complaint had no action taken on it after the first six months.  No action was taken on the second complaint after the second day for about a year when a voice mail was left with the employer.  That voice mail was never returned.  After seeing this in the file record, I requested that the EEOC look at the complaint again.  The Director’s response was a resounding “NO!”.  How can you have a complaint for over two years and then say there was no basis for the complaint?  I sent emails and letters to several other agencies who referred the complaints back to the Charlotte EEOC office.  Now I have requested help from two Senators.  I want to know, and feel I have a right to know, what happened to my  complaint and why nothing was investigated or done. 

Anybody got any answers?????