EEOC Is Going Paperless - Please Contact Them to Assign a Designated Email Recipient

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is now sending Charges of Discrimination via email.  If there is a charge filed against your municipality, the EEOC will send a Notice of Charge to the municipality’s representative as designated in the EEOC’s computer system.  The EEOC might obtain this email address from the Charging Party, or may obtain it from past email communications with the municipality.  If the EEOC does not have the correct designated representative in their system, it could result in a random employee receiving the notice of the Charge of Discrimination. To verify who the EEOC has listed as your municipality’s representative, please mail, email or fax the name of the municipality and the designated representative, along with the job title, mailing address, email address and telephone number of the designated representative to:

Adrian McDaniel, EEOC Supervisory Investigator
215 Dean A. McGee, Suite 524 
Oklahoma City, OK  73102
adrian.mcdaniel@EEOC.gov
fax number (405) 231-4911

Because there is a very real possibility that a random employee could receive the Notice of Charge, you should instruct all employees to immediately contact the Human Resources Director, City Manager or Mayor (whichever applies to your municipality) if they get an email from the EEOC.  Also, you should advise all employees to refrain from downloading the Charge and to keep any information received by the email as confidential.

The filing of an EEOC Charge is the first step to an employment lawsuit.  The response to the EEOC charge is critical because it lays the foundation for a successful defense of the lawsuit. The consequences of a sloppy, ineffective or inaccurate response can cost thousands of additional dollars in legal expenses and can lead to the admissibility of findings and determinations made by the EEOC at the trial level.  

For these reasons, EEOC Charges of Discrimination are covered under OMAG’s Municipal Liability Protection Plan (MLPP).  If your municipality receives an EEOC Charge, please forward it to OMAG at claims@omag.org or directly to our Legal Department at spaulson@omag.org or mlove@omag.org.