Necessary Steps to Take Before Filing an Employment Lawsuit

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In a significant portion of potential employment cases (but not all), an employee must exhaust his or her administrative remedies before he or she is able to file an employment lawsuit in an attempt to seek relief and redress. Failure to do so or failure to follow all procedural requirements in doing so likely will cause an employee's rights and remedies to be extinguished. In addition, exhaustion of administrative remedies usually must be completed in a short period of time. Because failure to exhaust administrative remedies can eliminate your ability to seek justice in pursuing an employment claim, if you think that you have an employment claim, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible, and preferably an attorney who regularly practices in the area of employment law. If you are unable to contact an attorney, you should contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Texas Workforce Commission.

For example, in the following types of cases, a Charge of Discrimination must be filed with the Texas Workforce Commission and/or the Equal Opportunity Commission before an employee has the right to file suit in a court of law.

  • Sex discrimination cases
  • Sexual harassment cases
  • Pregnancy discrimination cases
  • Age discrimination cases
  • Race discirmination cases
  • Religious discrimination cases
  • National origin discrimination cases
  • Disability discrimination cases
  • Retaliation cases

    However, this list is not all inclusive and you should consult an attorney, the TWC, or the EEOC to decide if you must file a charge of discrimination for your type of employment case. In addition, in other types of cases, administrative remedies must be exhausted through other routes. For instance, the Texas Whistleblower Statute, which provides certain protections for government employees reporting violations of the law in certain circumstances, requires that employees must initiate grievance or appeal procedures of the employing governmental entity before they have the ability to file suit in a court of law. Other laws have other pre-suit and mandatory requirements. To protect your rights, it is imperative to know what obligations you must fulfill before filing suit and the deadline for meeting those obligations.

    Filing a Charge of Discrimination with the TWC or EEOC

    To file a Charge of Discrimination that is necessary to preserve your right to file suit for some violations of employment law in a court of law, you should contact the EEOC or the TWC. Both of these agencies also maintain information on how to file a Charge of Discrimination on their web sites. In filing a Charge of Discrimination, you should make sure that your Charge is being filed with both the TWC and the EEOC. This may be accomplished by checking both boxes (FEPA and EEOC) in the top right hand corner of the Charge form and by signing the bottom left hand corner of the Charge form which indicates that you would like your charge filed with both the TWC and the EEOC. Filing your Charge with both the EEOC and the TWC will ensure that you preserve your rights under both state and federal law.

    A Charge of Discrimination should be filed as soon as practicably possible, as the law limits the amount of time you have to properly file a Charge of Discrimination. For example, following a wrongful termination, you generally must file a Charge of Discrimination with the TWC within 180 days or with the EEOC within 300 days after you become aware of the termination. Whatever your deadline is, failure to meet it by as little as one day may end your ability to seek any further relief!

    In completing the Charge itself, be sure to check the box(es) that are appropriate for the type of discrimination you have suffered. In addition, at the least, your Charge of Discrimination must provide information that is sufficient to indicate to the Agency or employer what you are complaining about. Your future lawsuit, if necessary, may be limited to employment law violations that could have reasonably been expected to have been investigated as a result of the filing of the charge.

    In sum, if you feel that you have a potential employment case, you should contact an attorney, the Texas Workforce Commission, or the EEOC as soon as possible to see what steps, if any, you must take to preserve your rights.
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