Civil Litigation Process

Civil Litigation Process

The focus of this paper will be to show how an employee would make a discrimination complaint against his employer. The process begins with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and can proceed through the civil litigation process from the state level up to the United States Supreme Court.

Discrimination is defined as the "prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment of an individual or group towards another person or group. (http://m-w.com/dictionary/discrimination, retrieved March 30, 2007). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was written to provide relief from discrimination in a great deal of areas, but in this paper the focus will be on the area of employment law.

Throughout this paper the reference will be on a hypothetical senario...John is an employee in a private sector organization. He decided to file an age discrimination complaint against his employer after being forced into retirement due to his age. The following will give an insight into the processing of an EEOC claim and how that claim can find its way all the way up to the United States Supreme Court if a resolution can not be reached.

The first step in the process for John to file his complaint would be to go to the nearest EEOC office and file a claim, and by law the EEOC must in some way handle every claim it receives. Filing a complaint with the EEOC will not cost John anything more than time and energy. Since John is a nonfederal government employee he will need to make sure that he files his claim within 180 days of when the discrimination took place. Within 10 days of John filing his claim, the EEOC gives notice of the claim to his previous employer. From this point, the EEOC will review the charge to see if the claim is a case that is appropriate for mediation.

Mediation is a process where both parties can present their positions, provide information, and express their request for relief. If the parties reach an agreement then it is binding. (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2007, Chapter 2) If John or his previous employer chooses not to mediate, then the charge will be sent back to the EEOC for processing. The EEOC will then start the investigation by talking with the employer, employee, and any other necessary witnesses and the EEOC will also view any documents or possibly even visit the workplace. Once the investigation is complete, the EEOC will determine if there is reasonable cause or no reasonable cause for the complaint. If they find that there is no reasonable cause for the complaint then a right-to-sue letter is issued to John and he can then decide if he wants to pursue the case. If he decides to bring suit against his former employer in federal court he has to do so within 90 days of receiving the letter. (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], )

Should the EEOC find that there is reasonable cause for the claim, they will attempt to bring John and his former employer together to conciliate the dispute. Conciliating means when an EEO investigator discusses what has been found in the investigation and reviews the ways the matter can be resolved. (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2007, Chapter 5) If the claim is not settled during the conciliation, the EEOC can file a civil action in federal district court. If John disagrees