Please keep in mind that this is general information about employment discrimination cases. Every case is different.
In most employment discrimination matters, we have to first file your case with the appropriate administrative agency, either the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC), or both. Federal and state regulations require that we give these administrative agencies an opportunity to investigate your claim before proceeding to federal court. Depending on the type of case that you have, the waiting requirement is up to one year.
When that time has passed, we have to ask the EEOC and/or the PHRC for permission to proceed in court. The document we ask for is a “right to sue” letter. Once we receive that letter we have ninety days to bring the case to state or federal court.
The EEOC and/or PHRC will investigate your case. This investigation primarily involves those organizations requesting documents and other information from both parties. We will most likely receive questionnaires that we must fill out and return to these administrative agencies as part of that investigation. The defendants will have to provide similar information.
In my experience, the PHRC and the EEOC rarely resolve these types of cases. It is possible that the administrative agency will attempt to resolve the case through mediation or through direct settlement negotiations. Mediation is a process in which a neutral third party, appointed by the administrative agency, hears both sides of the case and tries to assist the two sides in coming to a mutually agreeable settlement. Cases are sometimes resolved through mediation at this stage, although in my experience most cases are not.
In most cases the period of time that the case must spend with the administrative agency is not very fruitful. Most of that time is spent waiting for the applicable time period to expire so that we could pursue the matter in court.