I promised some time back to write a post on how to write an effective Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or EEO) complaint on your own without a lawyer. As I've mentioned in the post describing the anti-discrimination law Title VII, you can't file a federal discrimination lawsuit under Title VII unless you file an EEOC complaint first, and the EEOC subsequently gives you the go-ahead to file your lawsuit (ie; they rule that your case has "reasonable cause").
The reason it is critical to write a coherent well-thought out EEOC complaint is because the EEOC rejects almost 60% of cases as having "no reasonable cause". See http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/sex.html
Even if you feel like you probably don't want to sue, it is perhaps worth your time to file the DIY EEOC complaint anyway if you really feel your employer has done you wrong. If nothing else, it puts your employer in the position of having to explain their actions to the federal government, and sometimes the EEOC steps in and sues on your behalf to force the employer to make positive changes to the workplace.
KEEP IN MIND IN ALL OF THE FOLLOWING THAT I AM NOT A LAWYER...I AM JUST SOMEONE WHO HAS READ AN AWFUL LOT OF COMPLAINTS AND HAVE SEEN PATTERNS THAT ARE THE HALLMARKS OF AN EFFECTIVE COMPLAINT. CAVEAT LECTOR.
Absinthe has read a lot of federal court filings by now, and she can tell you that of the 40% that actually make it through the EEOC process, around a third of them are complaints that are almost incoherent. It makes Absinthe wonder if the high rejection rate of the EEOC is due in part to people filing complaints without the help of anyone who can guide them through the process of writing a well-written, coherent complaint. Unfortunately, retaining a lawyer to help you write an EEOC complaint will cost you around $10k to $25k (no exaggeration). Filing an EEOC complaint without a lawyer is free, and if you want to test the waters to see if you have a viable case without coughing up thousands of dollars in attorney retainer fees right away, going the do-it-yourself-EEOC-complaint route might be for you.
First of all, put your complaint in point-by-point form, with only one nugget of information per point. If the EEOC decides your case has merit, they will ask your empyer to respond point-by-point to your complaint. Putting too much information in each point just allows your employer to say "denied" to the entire point if they feel that there is some fraction of information in that multifaceted point that cannot be proved. So, don't allow them to do this...make them respond to each little part of your complaint.
Before we get to the actual layout of the complaint, here are some points you need to mention in your complaint if they apply to you:
Do you work in a field where women are traditionally under-represented? If so, say so in the complaint, and back it up with a photocopy of the relevent page of some published document giving the average demographics of the field (for women in the academic sciences, Donna Nelson's reports might be useful here). Label the photocopy as Exhibit A (or B or whatever order it is mentioned in your complaint) and refer to it in your complaint. All supporting documentation in Exhibits are appended to the end of your complaint document.
Does your employer have a poor record for hiring and/or promoting women compared to the average demographics of your field? If so, say so, and back it up in the Exhibits with a photocopy of the relevent page of some published document giving the average demographics. Note the EEOC keeps track of the fraction of women in various professions on their statistics web pages, so you might find this a good resource.
Are there witnesses to various incidents related to the discrimination? If so, state the dates of the incidents (even if only approximate) and the names of the witnesses, even if you think they will not be sympathetic to your complaint.
Did you follow your employer's grievance procedures? If so, provide a photocopy of the relevent page of the employee handbook in your Exhibits that states how complainants should proceed and how the employer should respond.
Did your employer respond appropriately to your complaint? If not, point out that they did not follow their own procedures.
WERE YOU RETALIATED AGAINST AFTER FILING A COMPLAINT? If so, in what way, when, and what proof do you have (ie; provide supporting e-mails as Exhibits, and/or mention dates that retaliation occured and name witnesses who saw it). The reason that it is very important to thoroughly cover retaliation is because the court takes retaliation for complaining even more seriously than the original discrimination itself. "Discrimination" lawsuits have been won where the original complaint of discrimination was determined to be unfounded, but the employer retaliated against the employee for complaining (!).
Do you have a paper trail related to your complaint (ie; e-mails or actual letters)? If so, include them, along with whatever response the university gave you in your Exhibits. DID YOU SPECIFICALLY SAY IN YOUR COMPLAINT(S) TO YOUR EMPOYER THAT "I feel I am being discriminated against on the basis of my gender"? If so, point that out in your EEOC complaint. It makes your case stronger.
How were you damaged by the discrimination? Loss of pay or future earnings (because of being laid off, fired, or not promoted)? Medically documented health problems related to stress at work? Etc?
Notice that I keep on mentioning documentation in Exhibits. Try to condense Exhibit information as much as possible. You don't want to overwhelm the poor investigator with reams of Exhibits he/she has to wade through in order to find the relevent nuggets of information. You are probably thinking that getting all the Exhibit information together will take some work. You are probably right, but it is work that is worth it.
Before I forget, I should mention that you should not lie or even overly exaggerate in your complaint. If you university in its response can prove that you are telling falsehoods or half truths, it casts a pall of doubt over all the rest of your complaint, no matter how true the rest of it is. Tell the truth, even if in some cases it may not put you in the best light. In fact, telling the truth even when it does not necessarily put you in the best light gives the ring of truth to everything else you say. There is a legal term for this that I can't recall right now. In any case, to summarize, TELL THE TRUTH AND THE WHOLE TRUTH, EVEN WHEN IT HURTS.
OK, now on to what a complaint looks like (make sure all Exhibits are in the order in which they are referred to in the text, and that you include as little extraneous information as possible in the Exhibits). This is a vanilla complaint that assumes you are still working for your employer (in this case, a university) and that gender discrimination is what you suffered. Edit it appropriately if sexual harrassment was the problem, and/or you are no longer working for your employer. By the way, if you had to quit your job because someone in the workplace was making your life there intolerable because of harrassment or discrimination, that is called "constructive discharge". If you quit under those circumstances, state in your complaint that you feel you were constructively discharged because of the intolerable hostile work situation that your employer refused to address (ie; actually use the words "constructive discharge" in your complaint).
A copy of the vanilla complaint in Word format can be found at http://radio.weblogs.com/0151290/stories/VanillaComplaint.doc
Type a short cover letter to the complaint, including your name, address, and telephone number. Send the letter, complaint, and Exhibits to your nearest EEOC field office (see http://www.eeoc.gov/offices.html ).
Then sit back and wait. Most EEOC offices are seriously backed up and it may take them some months to process your charge. Be patient.
Whatever the result of the EEOC complaint process, try not to be discouraged if it does not come out the way you wanted it to...you tried, and that is the main thing, plus you made your employer have to explain its actions if the EEOC actually investigated. Also, if the EEOC investigates, you will get a copy of your employer's response to your complaint; they will almost certainly deny everything and may even lie. You will have a chance to rebut their response. If your employer lied somewhere in their response, point that out as one of the first things in your rebuttal (especially if you can prove it with documentation). If your employer is shown to be lying on one point, it casts doubt on all the rest of their testimony.
One last caveat; try to be as emotionless as possible in your complaint. Most of the incomprehensible complaints that I've read are difficult to understand mostly because it is clear the plaintiff could not emotionally distance herself from the issue enough to describe the forest instead of all the individual trees. Focusing too much on the trees doesn't allow the investigator to see the forest.
12:37:26 AM 
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