If the union and employer will not accommodate your religious beliefs, you should file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [5]. Remember: to be completely sure that your charge is timely filed, you must file it within 180 days of the date of discrimination. Normally the "discrimination" will be the union's or employer's decision not to accommodate your religious beliefs. But, it might also be some action by the employer or union that is contrary to your request for an accommodation.
Let's look at an example involving religious objection to the payment of union fees. Assume that you have written your letter to the union and employer stating your religious beliefs about paying the union fees and have asked for an accommodation of your religious beliefs. If the union writes back to say that it will not accommodate your religious beliefs, you should calculate the 180-day period from the date the union turns you down. If the employer and union do not reply, but just start taking union fees from your pay, you should file a charge within 180 days of the date that the union fees were first deducted from your pay.1 [6]
What follows is a check list of what you should do to file a charge with the EEOC.
____ Find the nearest EEOC office by calling [7] (800) 669-EEOC.
____ If you live within the "normal commuting area"2 [8] surrounding the EEOC office, you should make an appointment to go in and fill out a charge. When you first arrive, the EEOC may have you fill out an "intake questionnaire." Whatever else you do, before you leave you must fill out an EEOC charge to begin the administrative proceedings.
____ If you live outside the "normal commuting area," call the EEOC and have an EEOC employee take your charge over the telephone. The EEOC will then mail the filled in charge to you for your verification and signature.
____ Do not take "no" for an answer. Religious discrimination charges constitute a small fraction of the charges filed with the EEOC. As a result, the EEOC intake-employees who initially handle the charges are sometimes not very knowledgeable about this area of the law. He or she may insist that you do not have a claim that is within the jurisdiction of the EEOC. Insist that the EEOC accept the charge. If you have a serious problem, ask the EEOC employee to consult the EEOC Compliance Manual, Field Notes 112-1 (1.7) (issued 1/88) which states in part: "A charge should not be taken unless it is within EEOC jurisdiction. However, if the charging party insists on filing a charge the charge should be taken."
____ Often your state will have a state or local agency that deals with religious discrimination. If it does, the law requires that you also file a charge with the state or local agency.3 [9] If you simply file a charge with the EEOC, the Commission is supposed to file a copy of your charge with the appropriate state or local agency.4 [10] However, since the law requires you to file the charge with the appropriate state or local agency, you should do one of two things. Get the name of the state or local agency (called a § 706 agency) from the EEOC, and then either file5 [11] a copy of your EEOC charge with the state or local agency or call that agency to check to be sure that the EEOC sent your charge to it.
____ Remember, it is a good idea, when mailing the initial charge to the EEOC, to mail it certified, return receipt required.
Filling out the charge form is quite easy. There are only two "traps" that you must carefully avoid. First, you must be careful about the way you describe your religious beliefs. Make sure the description is accurate and consistent with your religious accommodation request letter.
Second, you must be sure that the charge lists the name and address for each party that you think owes you an accommodation, but did not accommodate you. For example, if you have religious objections to joining or financially supporting a labor union, you should be sure that the name and address of every level of the union which claims part of your union fees is included in your charge. Unless you have religious convictions which prevent you from filing a charge against your employer, you should also file a charge against your employer. If you fail to include the name and address of some party that you think owes you an accommodation, you will probably not be able, later on, to enforce your legal rights against that party.
Once you have filed a charge, the EEOC notifies the parties on the other side that a charge has been filed and begins to investigate. The EEOC does not operate like a court. Its investigation does not involve a formal hearing or a trial.6 [12] Instead, during the investigation the EEOC investigator assigned to the case talks to the parties, accepts their documents and position statements, and tries to figure out what has happened. (Be sure to cooperate.)
The EEOC investigation can end in one of several ways. Let's take a look at each of these.
Filing an EEOC charge causes the EEOC, as mentioned above, to contact the party against whom you have filed. Just knowing that you are serious about pursuing your rights may cause the other party to decide to settle the case. If you (or the EEOC) can work out a settlement so that your beliefs are accommodated, that is the easiest and quickest resolution.
If the matter is not settled, the EEOC will issue a "determination letter" based on its investigation. This letter states whether or not the EEOC thinks the law has been violated. If it agrees with you that your religious beliefs should have been accommodated, and that your employer or union violated the law, it will issue a "cause" determination letter. If it does not agree that your rights have been violated, it will issue a "no cause" determination letter.
The amount of time the EEOC takes to investigate a charge varies greatly. Although the EEOC will eventually decide who it thinks is right and who it thinks is wrong, you may not want to wait that long. If your charge has been pending for 180 days before the EEOC, you have the option to request a "right to sue" letter from the EEOC. The EEOC will issue this letter to you upon request. After the right to sue letter is issued, you have 90 days in which to file suit in court.7 [13] If the EEOC issues a "no cause" determination letter, you also have the opportunity to file suit in court within 90 days.8 [14] You cannot go into court on your own while your case is pending before the EEOC. Instead, you must first obtain a "right to sue" letter from the EEOC.
If the EEOC finds in your favor, and issues a "cause" determination letter, it will formally enter the "conciliation" stage of processing your charge. Conciliation means that the EEOC tells the union and your employer that they should accommodate your religious beliefs. The EEOC has now switched roles from being an "investigator" of the facts, to being your advocate. Now that it is formally "on your side," the Commission tries to work out an accommodation of your religious beliefs. At this point you again have the possibility that your case will be settled. However, if it is not settled, and you want to continue to pursue your rights, the matter must go to court.
The EEOC has no power of its own to enforce its decision. If it agrees with you that your rights have been violated, but fails during conciliation to work out an accommodation of your religious beliefs, the EEOC has one of two options. First (and best from your point of view), the EEOC can go to court and file suit in its own name against the parties that you named in your EEOC charge. (That is one reason it is important to have all the correct parties named in your charge(s).) If the EEOC files suit, you will go before a judge who will decide whether you are entitled to an accommodation of your religious beliefs.
The EEOC will provide its lawyers to argue its findings on your behalf in court. The EEOC does not charge for this help. You also have the right to have your own lawyer ask the court to allow you to intervene into the litigation. The reason to consider hiring your own lawyer and intervening, is that the EEOC is really arguing its institutional point of view through your case. Your own lawyer will be concerned only about your point of view.
Even though the EEOC agrees that your rights have been violated, the second option open to it is to do nothing. It is not required to go to court to enforce its decision in your favor. If the EEOC decides to do nothing further, it will send you a letter telling you that you have 90 days to file suit to enforce your rights on your own.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation [15] has provided attorneys, at no charge, to a large number of employees who have religious objections to joining or financially supporting a labor union. If that is your situation, you can request help from the Foundation [16]. Your request will be carefully considered. The Foundation's goal is to help as many sincere religious objectors as possible. However, the Foundation receives many requests for assistance and is unable to help every employee who requests help.
If you decide to go to court and need an attorney, but do not know where to find one, the EEOC has established "panels of attorneys who have indicated their willingness to represent charging parties and to cooperate with the [EEOC]."9 [17] You can ask the EEOC for an attorney referral. You and your potential attorney will be interested to know that Title VII has a "fee-shifting" provision. This means that if you win, the court should order the other side to pay your attorney's fees.10 [18]
1 It is beyond the scope of this guide to discuss all of the legal exceptions and theories dealing with the statute of limitations. If you are beyond the 180-day period, but file your charge within 300 days of the date of discrimination, chances are your charge is still timely. If you are beyond the 300 days, you need to discuss the limitations period with the EEOC or an attorney. For example, a "continuing violation" "extends" the period for filing a charge. (back to text.) [23]
2 EEOC Compliance Manual § 1.5(a).(back to text.) [24]
3 42 USC § 2000e-5(c) [25]. The state agency is generally given at least 60 days to try to resolve the matter before you can ask the EEOC to take over the investigation. Foundation attorneys have found that it is best to get your case in the hands of the EEOC as soon as possible. (back to text.) [26]
4 29 CFR § 1601.13(a)(4)(i). (back to text.) [27]
5 Deliver the charge personally to the state or local agency, or send it by registered mail, return receipt required. (The only reason to use "registered" as opposed to "certified" mail, is an ambiguous reference in the statute (42 USC § 2000e-5(c) [28]) makes it appear that in some circumstances registered mail is required. The EEOC regulations require the Commission to send your charge to the state or local agency by registered mail, return receipt required, unless the state or local agency has waived this requirement (29 CFR § 1601.13(a)(4)(i)(B)). (back to text.) [29]
6 An EEOC investigator has the authority to bring the parties and their lawyers together for a face-to-face meeting. Such a meeting is the closest the EEOC gets to a regular trial under Title VII. (back to text.) [30]
7 42 USC § 2000e-5(f)(1) [31]. If a state or local anti-discrimination agency is handling your charges instead of the EEOC, you need to ask that agency about the timing of your opportunity to go into court. (back to text.) [32]
8 Generally the EEOC will tell you in advance if it disagrees with you and is going to issue a "no cause" letter. If this happens, and you have decided that you are going to pursue the matter in court, you should consider asking the EEOC to issue a "right to sue" letter, instead. Filing suit based upon a "right to sue" letter gives the court no idea about the thinking of the EEOC. However, the issuance of a "no cause" letter tells the court that the EEOC thought your case had no merit. (back to text.) [33]
9 EEOC Compliance Manual § 81.1. (back to text.) [34]
10 42 USC § 2000e-5(k) [35]. Under some circumstances, if you lose, you can be forced to pay your opponent's attorneys' fees. (back to text.) [36]
Links:
[1] http://www.nrtw.org/ro2.htm
[2] http://www.nrtw.org/ro1.htm
[3] http://www.nrtw.org/ro2.htm
[4] http://www.nrtw.org/ro_4.htm
[5] http://www.eeoc.gov/charge/overview_charge_filing.html
[6] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN1
[7] http://www.eeoc.gov/teledir.html
[8] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN2
[9] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN3
[10] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN4
[11] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN5
[12] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN6
[13] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN7
[14] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN8
[15] http://www.nrtw.org/
[16] http://www.nrtw.org/legal.htm
[17] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN9
[18] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN10
[19] http://www.nrtw.org/ro2.htm
[20] http://www.nrtw.org/ro1.htm
[21] http://www.nrtw.org/ro2.htm
[22] http://www.nrtw.org/ro_4.htm
[23] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN1t
[24] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN2t
[25] http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/2000e-5.shtml
[26] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN3t
[27] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN4t
[28] http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/2000e-5.shtml
[29] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN5t
[30] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN6t
[31] http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/2000e-5.shtml
[32] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN7t
[33] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN8t
[34] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN9t
[35] http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/2000e-5.shtml
[36] http://www.nrtw.org/ro3.htm#ro3FN10t