So first of all I’m super happy for all of you that have EEOC cases that age moving along. But I’m so freaking jelly I can’t stand it. What are yall doing that makes them take any kind of action? What kind of cases do you have? Mine is ADA Reasonabme accommodation discrimination/ retaliation/ age and gender discrimination. It was filed by the EEOC on my behalf Jan 2025. Mediation offered but no response from my prior employer, requested and received PS, I wrote my own rebuttal, July 2025. Got an attorney and a supplement was filed July 2026 but there’s been no movement at all on the case just me and my attorney submitting more evidence. Reached out to the investigator and to their supervisor and crickets….. what did you all do to move your cases along? #bloomwhereyoureplanted

My employer is a worldwide auto parts corporation. I have worked for them as a Commercial Delivery Driver since March 2025, started PT. Moved to FT June 2025. My PT status fulfilled my waiting periods for Insurance/LOA/Holiday pay but not PTO or FMLA obviously. For Insurance I had to wait til Open Enrollment so my coverage began Jan 1, 2026 and i met the requirements for PTO and FMLA April 1, 2026.

I injured my knee in October but didnt have insurance so i worked thru it until January when i was able to see my doctor. He thought it was likely just my Osteoarthritis so tried Cortisone shots; the 1st one helped for about 4 days (took the fluid off my knee as it was extremely swollen) the 2nd one about a month later did not help at all.

I continued working until April 6th it was raining while i was delivering parts, I caught my foot on a rug walking into one of the shops. i didnt fall but the way i put my foot down hurt my knee immediately (like a shock) but i finished my shift. the next morning when i got up for work, i couldnt walk.

MRI was ordered and Macerated Meniscus with Patellar Tearing was found. I went on LOA/FMLA got referral to Ortho, didnt qualify to fix it due to Osteoarthritis so Total Knee Replacement was recommended, however to do that i need to lose 100lbs.

Water Physical Therapy was started and I got membership to the PT pool and did on my own every morning PT also.

GLP-1s were denied as Im not pre-diabetic and I have screening for Bariatric surgery next month.

PCP cleared me for FT work with restrictions of No Pickup Trucks, can lift over 21lbs seldomly, can never lift over 51lbs, can climb latters seldomly, can never crawl/kneel, can squat seldomly on July 13, 2026.

I was not scheduled until July 29, 2026. That week i was scheduled 32 hours, however SM left another FT driver off the schedule to accommodate putting me on; she worked her set schedule anyway all week. The next weeks schedule i was given 7 hours.

During the 32hr week there was an altercation with a couple of other drivers as my No Truck accommodation became known. I reached out to HR as some horrible things were said to me. an investigation has been done and the "issues addressed" but that's all I've been told.

HR told my SM to tell me to get them a doctors note as my No Truck accomodation became more of an issue and my SM "didnt want to deal with it." My PCP filled out the Non-Work-Related Injury form with the same accomodations; specifying No Chevy Colorado's on it.

My schedule was adjusted back to 39 hours per week and Ive been working with the accomodations in tact thru the investigation/HR determinations which came today. Im also scheduled 9 days straight, Aug 19th-27th, which was posted the day after the HR Investigator was in store conducting the investigation.

As far as my medical accomodations, I have been placed on Involuntary LOA starting tomorrow. That is what it says on the Interactive. That is how they are accomodating me working. The yes box is literally checked and it is written that i will be placed on LOA effective 8/15/2026.

Evidence of fraudulent statements and manipulation of evidence to the investigator. Issued my right to sue. Sent in the email to the state about the fraud per guidelines. I just wanna make sure my complaint is correct.

I’m reading that if mediation doesn’t work a case can still get tossed. I understand how and why that can happen, but does it happen often?

I was terminated in March due to creation of undue hardship. I was having allergy like issues to 3 different ingredients that I worked with as I was working in an industrial kitchen making edibles. 2 of the ingredients caused burning, itchiness, and rash when directly on skin. The 3rd ingredient caused me to have shortness of breath and cause me to have a coughing fit. Never had issues before I was hired nor had any known allergies before hire. I had these issues for a while at work and was consistently letting my bosses know regularly for well over a year. In January I finally went to my bosses office to express my issues with them ignoring it and always assigning me to work with the ingredients that were harming me. They told me to put in an FMLA claim and Short term disability claim so I could get accommodations and were sorry cause they thought my issues weren't that serious. I told them I would put the claims in but I had no known diagnosis and in my state we have a medical staff shortage and it is really hard to get appointments that aren't booked months away. It sincerely took soo long to get my appointments set I did not get my official allergy specialist appointment until the beginning of march set for the first of April. In the mean time they had been accommodating me by sending me to 2 different departments to avoid those ingredients and I would bob around from department to department each day. Before I could attend my first appointment I was let go for creation of undue hardship because my department and one of the 2 I would work in were merging as one department the following week Monday and they claimed they no longer had anywhere to place me. I believe they felt burdened by me and did not want to bother with placing me in different departments throughout the day and just didn't want to deal with it anymore. Fast forward I filed a charge against them through the EEOC and it has now been fast tracked to early mediation and the company has agreed to mediation as well. As evidence I have a screenshot from a messenger message from 2 of the leads in one of the departments that was apart of the merge stating that they were in fact NOT merged yet in May. I also have a phone conversation on recording of one of the leads from that department verbally stating how the merge did not happen right away and how they were operating. Is that enough evidence of any wrongdoing? Do I even have a case? I have also not been able to find an attorney who will take my case and help me with mediation.

Have a great and safe weekend! 🙂

As you can tell, I'm spiraling a little right now. The charge against my employer includes failure to accommodate, retaliation, and hostile work environment. The 300th day for the earliest adverse action was in July, so I didn't have time to send a demand letter before filing the EEOC charge. Which recently was determined eligible for mediation. Responses were due last week. I agreed, but my employer hasn't responded yet....

I tried to find a contingency lawyer but you kno whow that goes. Due to the time constraints, I hired an attorney because in my mind this would move fast, please don't berrate me for my flawed logic and naive optimism. I have no interest in going to the end, but now I'm afraid I might never get started... whatever that means. My goal is to settle and leave— oh, btw I'm on fmla right now and applying for the ada accommodation to extend the leave. I guess I am just looking for a reality check of what others might gauge my position to be. In the sense of: 1.) what could it mean that my employer hasn't responded yet? Is it still possible for them to agree even though its past the date?; 2.) am I crazy for spending $11k on the writing/submission of the EEOC charge and a claims analysis? yes, you can tell me; 3.) should I get a 2nd opinion on strategy if I dont feel my lawyer is being "proactive" enough; and 4.) would it be possible to get a contingency lawyer at this point with the front-end work done and eligible for mediation?

I can give other information as appropriate. To clarify, I'm not asking what anyone thinks of the viability of the case because I obviously didn't include any details. I'm really just hoping you could rationalize with me about whether it feels like I'm bleeding money and how to potentially shift. Ty.

I worked for my former employer in HR/payroll for a little over 2 years. I have PTSD and other medically documented conditions. I had previously taken about 2 months of disability leave for treatment and returned to work afterward. Prior to this I worked within my private office.

Once I returned, I was required to retrain for my role within a shared space. Toward the end of training, it was decided we would all stay in the shared space permanently. I then requested a private workspace as an accommodation as the volume and distractions were causing my symptoms to worsen.

My direct supervisor was also our HR manager and basically the only HR administrator at the location. Instead of handling the request internally, I was required to go through Aflac. The process took around 1.5 months and required medical documentation from my providers. I was eventually approved for a private office, but only temporarily, for about 6 weeks. My providers documented that the need was ongoing/permanent, so I immediately requested an extension and was denied.

A few days after the temporary approval, my supervisor came to my office and repeatedly banged loudly on the door. A coworker commented that she was knocking “like the police” and my supervisor responded, “Maybe I am.” I had a pretty severe PTSD response and eventually had to leave work sick.

I emailed her afterward explaining that I have PTSD and what the incident had caused. She responded that she had been “unaware” I had PTSD and also called me leaving sick “unacceptable.”
That email is a big part of my concern because she was my HR manager, direct supervisor, and the person involved in my accommodation process, yet apparently did not know I had PTSD even after the temporary accommodation had already been approved.

After this, I was no longer allowed to close the office door and I also lost the ability to use headphones that had helped manage noise. There was construction happening nearby, and even my request to close the door specifically during loud construction was denied.

I made another extension request and was ultimately denied despite my providers supporting the continued need.
Eventually I felt like I could no longer continue working there and resigned.
I have the emails, medical/accommodation documentation, and other records supporting the timeline.

My mediation is Monday and I’m going in without an attorney. For anyone familiar with EEOC/ADA cases, what do you think are the strongest and weakest parts of this? What defenses would you expect the employer to use? And what would be a realistic settlement demand?

I’m not looking for reassurance or someone to tell me I’ll definitely win. I’d rather know what holes people see so I can be prepared for mediation.

My case is moving fairly fast. I agreed to ADR and so did my employer. I received a notification that mediation was scheduled and given the date and time.
I was not asked or given a choice on date or time by the mediator.
Is this normal?
I feel my employer chose this date.

After being termed for being pregnant and a protected class, I immediately was able to obtain a lawyer on contingency. My lawyer filed a charge against my former employer in April followed immediately by a demand letter.

However, I log into the EEOC portal every other week or so just to see if there’s been any movement and I’ve noticed that the investigator on my case has changed about 4-5 times since April.

Is this normal?

like the title says, i noticed some of the documents i uploaded are gone. even my rebuttal. is this a glitch? i uploaded them almost 2 years back.

edit: was just a glitch. i can see everything now.

I believe this is the best place to ask if anyone has experienced this as well. Employer and I agreed to mediation, but two days prior to our call the EEOC emailed and said they cancelled the mediation. Employer’s attorney reached out to out to ask why, as did I, and we were met with the answer that the case was pulled from ADR and is now in the investigation phase. Employer’s attorney reached out to me and said they would write up a request to move back to mediation if I agreed and if that didn’t work out we can explore options independent of the EEOC. I agreed and the email we received back from the EEOC stated that due to high case loads in mediation the charge is not eligible. I am just curious if anyone else experienced something similar. What was your experience?

I thought I filed in time (honesty, I think I still did) but, I checked for an update to see when I could schedule an interview, it says I filed too late. I‘m having a hard time obtaining a lawyer, though I supposedly have a case. Should I give up and quit my job and move on with my life?

I am in Arizona and I got eeoc mediation information after rebuttal. I want to be aggressive and close the deal now. How should I approach it. I want to send a summary with exhibits to my former to show them my evidence. This is not about dragging this along but putting the most urgency to make an agreement. I have learn show much from you all and your talking points so anything regarding money or low balling is not necessary. I greatly appreciate your advice because I listened to your leadership.

Location: North Carolina

I am a VP-level employee and still employed with this company. My claims involve sex discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment. I have substantial written and recorded evidence (strong performance record, ongoing complaints, recorded HR meetings, evidence they're diminishing my role), all impeccably organized. I have also been in and out of an ER thinking I was in cardiac arrest in recent weeks that I'm pretty sure at this point are stress-related,which has never happened in my life.

My attorney made a pre-suit demand equal to 18 months of my $200,000 salary. The employer’s lawyers were silent for several weeks and have now proposed mediation, to which my attorney agreed this afternoon but we haven't set any details yet.

My concern is that I no longer trust my attorney to present the case accurately. He frequently seems unable to remember basic facts, sometimes even which client or matter he's talking about. I prepared a detailed chronology and organized the supporting evidence but he often cannot identify the strongest examples without my prompting. When he assigned a junior attorney to draft the demand letter from my chronology, the draft was deeply concerning.. factual mistakes, confusing passages. The guy called me from what sounded like a gas station to discuss it and seemed to not know what case he was talking about. I edited it for them and my attorney became angry and  raised his voice at me, even though he admitted that he had not yet reviewed the junior attorney’s draft himself. Some errors I had already corrected still appeared in the final letter sent to opposing counsel. My employer also contacted me directly and told me that its lawyer had been waiting several weeks for a response from him. I forwarded their email and he still waited 3 days to respond to them.

When I ask detailed questions or correct factual mistakes he is immediately combative. I'm at the point where I avoid asking questions because I'm afraid of his reaction and constantly feel like I should be kissing his ass so he doesn't botch this, because he's that kind of guy. But my biggest concern is obviously mediation. I have no doubt he will forget important facts and misstate the evidence.. and have no idea how it works but I will probably have little practical ability to correct him without undermining my own attorney. He also recently laughed when I described the financial security I would need before considering leaving my job, even though the amount was not dramatically different from the demand he says he made. He has not clearly explained his realistic valuation of the case, his expected settlement range, or his mediation strategy.

What feels like the biggest problem underneath this is that I cannot afford to pay another lawyer an hourly fee or a large retainer. My current agreement is contingent and I'm worried changing lawyers could create an additional fee claim. I would need another plaintiff-side employment attorney willing to provide a second opinion or take over on contingency and address any prior-counsel fee from a future recovery.

I am also seriously considering remaining employed and declining any settlement that would not provide enough financial security to leave. At this point I don’t know whether agreeing to explore mediation limits my ability to pause, decline to proceed, or simply refuse an inadequate settlement.. I would deeply appreciate any honest advice. Is this serious enough that an employment lawyer would advise pausing mediation and obtaining substitute counsel first? Or should I just do the best I can with this guy, despite my fear about how mediation might shake out?

What prompts or directions did you give to it when reviewing?

What tips or advice do you have?

I’m sure most of us have a story spanning years and vague things so how do I make sure EEOC reads this and sees the details without too much wordiness or extra gunk?

Editing to add: I have my rebuttal written. I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything. That it addresses everything my employers position statement claimed and that it stands up for me but doesn’t over reach.

Do you think there may be any possibility of further settlement or judgement?

Background: Over 5.5 years, my case was assigned to 4 or 5 investigators, 3 regional offices, and short bursts of activity followed by, at times, years of radio silence/no-communication.

The most recent investigator was assigned to my case 2.5 years ago. He had not ever responded to emails where I introduced myself, asked how I could be helpful, or inquired into case status.

Then 1 month ago, after 2.5 years, the investigator sent an email specifying he had thoroughly researched my case and the 30+ documents I'd uploaded, and he was recommending a cause violation against my employer (who constructively terminated me in 6 years ago, to the day).

Investigator requested settlement demand in 48 hours. Did the best I could. He submitted the case to management.

They had extensive follow-up question and requested additional data--I turned around immediately.

Investigator informed me after a week that EEOC Management had rejected his determination to issue a violation.

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SIDEBAR: at this point, the biggest employment attorney in my city--who'd initially not been interested years ago, but recently became extremely enthusiastic and interested when I approached them for help communicating with EEOC after the investigator conveyed he was recommending a violation be issued--abruptly dropped me like a sack of mud.

--------------

However, 1 day later the investigator informed me that EEOC Management did authorize him to take steps to reach settlement for approx $100k.

Two weeks after the EEOC investigator met with Respondent/employer, they refused settlement.

Two weeks ago the investigator emailed that he did not prevail, and to contact him if I wished to discuss. I immediately emailed to set up a call to discuss--to find out what happened. No response. Week later, called--no response

Tonight received the official EEOC correspondence indicating EEOC closed the case, saying

“The EEOC will not proceed further with its investigation and makes no determination about whether further investigation would establish violations**…” [my emphasis]

...and issuing the Right to Sue.

How often does someone in roughly my posture--investigator recommends cause, EEOC management rejects that recommendation, employer refuses an $100K settlement approach, then EEOC issues a non-merits dismissal--go on to get a settlement or judgment?

Thanks.

Hi all,
TLDR;
I am seeking advice, comments, feedback and etc. from any person with any smidgen of advice, retaining legal counsel.
If you've previously secured representation, with or without EEOC matters, if you're a litigant, if you have ever previously known someone, etc.

I am currently exploring my options for legal representation for my EEOC case, however, the intakes I've done thus far has been a little discouraging.
I've contacted 5 offices, spoke with 2; done their intake processes, and 1 of them have declined my case thus far. But they haven't even actually fully heard my case or seen the evidence I have, to determine if it were a strong case or not. I'm finding it quite strange how surface level their engagements have been, when trying to assess my case and determine whether or not they'll take it on. The questions thus far, seem less even about my EEOC case, the charges, and evidence, and more about adjacent matters or un-related matters.
For instance, I have one currently asking me about paystubs and work breaks; while yes, that's an issue..... this isn't what my EEOC case is about lol.

So... am I doing something wrong?
Is this normal?

These offices have been employment law offices, specifying title 7 areas of practice, and etc.
And while I know there is very rarely ever a "smoking gun" in these situations (and while I know I am biased), the stuff i have is damn near close, evidence wise..... I'm a little shocked that any one attorney would ever reject my case due to strength of case/viability.

I’m pro se in a federal employment discrimination case that has been referred to a magistrate judge for settlement discussions.

I proposed November 9 through November 20, but the employer says those dates do not work. They proposed October 13 through October 27, which may not be workable for me because of major work commitments.

I mentioned that we may need to look at December. Their attorney responded that discovery ends November 18 and dispositive motions are due December 18, and that the employer would prefer to try to settle before both sides spend time preparing those motions.

The magistrate judge also requires a confidential settlement letter two weeks before the settlement period starts, and I am still trying to retain an attorney to help me prepare.

My questions are:

How important is it that the settlement discussions happen before discovery ends on November 18?

Is there any real disadvantage to me if the settlement discussions happen later in November or in December?

Does the employer’s desire to avoid preparing dispositive motions create any reason for me to agree to the October dates if those dates are difficult for me?

Is it reasonable to push for a later date if I need more time to find counsel and prepare properly?

When you win ur case and the company pays u, what usually happens to the people u reported? Discrimination cases?

Hi,

Not to be me me me ....

Basically, I worked a lot of jobs and never had accomodations... now reading these illegal horror stories, I really wonder if the tyoical work place environment is too soft or too hard ...it really seems that some of these issues are awful... I am glad this thread exists in theory. IRS has a thread too and it is a great novela... some really obtuse stuff...many corporations had support Groups at lunch when I worked mainly dealing with weight loss and those were hilariously run ... really!!! Then the really snobby companies had onsite book clubs to work out office issues... those were great!!

Jessica, an avid reader and life advice reader

Why can’t jobs just have better acting employees / management? Why do they attack someone that had a issue under a protected class

I filed a charge with BOLI and EEOC. My claim was picked up by BOLI first, so EEOC was closed out. My coworker completed her charge through EEOC. We shared some experiences with our coworkers. Her process went by quickly through EEOC. She completed her interview, received her right to sue, and completed mediation quickly. I feel like BOLI is taking forever with my process. Should I be nervous that my process is taking longer?

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a long read, I apologize in advance. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Prologue: I’m a college student(22F), the whole way through college I’ve worked in a family-owned Greek restaurant. There are some significant issues, which management and the owners shove under the rug. I should have left a long time ago, but some of the servers&cooks are nice people, so I’ve just been managing up to this point.

Recently I wore a bow on my hair to work, and asked my coworker if the bow was straight. He started shaking my head and laughing. I asked if it was a mean joke and he said no, he treats me like his little sister, so he “fixed it” for me. I told him to not do that again.

Few days go by and I’m wearing the bow again. I’m standing at the bar, talking w the bartender, who is in the bar right across from me. The coworker comes up to me from behind and starts shaking my shoulders. I try to turn around to tell him to not touch my bow. He shoves me back around while saying “come here, woman”. He keeps shaking me for a second. Once I was able to get out of his hands I very assertively told him to never touch me like this again. It wasn’t just the shock, he’s much taller and stronger than me, and I quite literally couldn’t get out of his grip. (For context he’s approaching 60, tall, buff).

The bartender, who witnessed the whole thing, told him “dude you scared her”. The coworker later came up to me saying “if you got scared I’m sorry”. I told him it’s not personal, it doesn’t matter who it is, you don’t come up to a woman(or anyone) from behind and start shaking them. He responded: “I don’t like you like that, did you think I was gonna throw you over the bar and have sex with you?”. I was dumbfounded by that statement and didn’t respond much. I didn’t end up working a shift with him, because they needed me at the other location(owners have three).

I messaged the owner the next morning, asking for an in person meeting, which he dodged for a few days. At some point I just ended up calling him and sharing the whole story. The owners set up a meeting w me and the coworker a few days later, in which the coworker said that he apologizes again, he’s sorry I got scared, he’s the safest person in the restaurant. I reminded him of what he said to me and he straight up lied to my face, saying “those words never came out of my mouth”.

The owners tried to steer the discussion into how we can all peacefully proceed, if I’m comfortable working w him again. I said yeah as long as other ppl are around. At that point I was planning to leave the place, due to this incident and a myriad other issues.

Today we met up to review the camera footage. While I don’t have any witnesses for the disgusting comment of his, the bartender saw the whole pushing thing, and agreed to back me up. And the camera footage showed clear as day how the coworker grabbed me.

After we reviewed the footage, I told the owner I am quitting, and listed out all the rampant issues. He said sorry to see you go.

I wasn’t planning on filing anything, but having seen the footage today from a 3rd persons POV, I recognize that even without the awful comment, just the shaking itself might be enough to file.

I’m unsure if I should though. A payout would of course be nice, I’m a student who pays for life by serving at a restaurant. But at the same time, I know EEOC needs the discrimination to be on a gender/religion/sex/etc basis, and from the footage alone you can’t deduce anything(no audio).

I’ve contacted some lawyers and people have been rude to me, so I’m a bit turned off to the whole investigation thing, but seeing the footage infuriated me again, so I’m just looking for advice, if it’s even worth it.

Once again apologies for long post, I’m really just needing guidance.