Filing a Discrimination Claim

An employee may file a charge if they believe an employer discriminated against them because of their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin, or retaliated against them. This includes discrimination in the Form I-9 or E-Verify process. 

Filing a Complaint with the Government 

Depending on the type of discrimination you suffer and, in some circumstances, the size of your employer, you may file a discrimination charge with either the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Employees must file discrimination charges with IER within 180 days of the date the employee believes the discrimination occurred. The deadline to file a complaint with the EEOC depends on where the discrimination took place. The deadline for EEOC is 180 days, unless a state or local agency enforces a state or local law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis as EEOC-enforced federal laws, in which case the complaint must be filed within 300 calendar days. 

• Contact IER to file a charge of employment discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin. IER has jurisdiction over national origin claims against employers with 4 to 14 employees. 
• Contact the EEOC to file a complaint of employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), religion, age, disability, or genetic information and your employer has 15 or more employees (except for age discrimination claims, for which the employer must have 20 employees). 

IER or EEOC will notify the employer of the discrimination complaint within 10 days of filing. The employer will receive: 

• A notice of the investigation 
• A request for information 
• A reminder that retaliation is unlawful 

For more information about employment discrimination, contact IER or EEOC.