Filing a DFEH/EEOC Complaint Against Your Employer

DFEH  (California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) and EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) - the federal counterpart of DFEH are agencies charged with accepting complaints of and investigating allegations of discrimination and retaliation at workplace.  Generally, filing a charge with one of the above agencies within one year of the most recent discriminatory act, such as employment termination, is a pre-requisite to filing a lawsuit, and failure to file a charge will bar the majority of discrimination claims that could have been otherwise brought in court.

In the vast majority of cases, filing a DFEH/EEOC complaint against your employer is a pure formality, as these agencies close their file and issue a right to sue letter to the complainant in over 95% of the cases. DFEH and EEOC only choose a few, particularly egregious cases to pursue every year due to lack of resources and the number of discrimination complaints they receive.  Otherwise, a typical DFEH investigation ends up with a letter stating something like this: "Our findings are inconclusive, and we are unable to determine whether your employer has violated the law. Therefore, we are closing our file, and here is your right-to-sue letter."

The good news is that if there is a strong evidence to support your claim, you don't have to wait for the DFEH to issue its findings, which can sometimes take many months or even more than a year. You can either contact the agency and asked that they close the investigation and issue you a right to sue letter, or you can have your attorney get a right to sue letter through DFEH online system in just a few minutes.