Beyond the Charge: Exhaustion of EEOC Administrative Remedies for Events Taking Place During the EEOC Investigation

By: Georgia Staton & Ravi Patel
The number of charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has risen steadily over the past three years and is expected to increase further as discrimination in the workplace has received increasingly high profile attention in the media. Before an employee can file a lawsuit alleging employment discrimination or retaliation, he or she must first exhaust their administrative remedies by timely filing a charge with the EEOC within 180 days of the unlawful employment action (or 300 days where a state agency has a workshare agreement with the EEOC).