1. Persons who feel they have been discriminated against have one (1) year from the date of alleged harm to file their charge with the Commission. The time period for filing a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is shorter. The Commission encourages persons to contact the Commission as soon as they believe they are or have been victims of discrimination.
2. Many of the cases with the Commission are automatically filed with the federal agency responsible for enforcing the federal anti-discrimination laws. The EEOC enforces the fair employment laws and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) enforces the fair housing laws.
3. Each case accepted by the Commission takes a different amount of time to investigate based on the nature and complexity of the issues. It is impossible to estimate the time for any case. The process does take time and the cooperation of the parties is essential. The Commission has subpoena powers and can compel the release of documents. The Commission can also subpoena witnesses.