On May 10, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued a notice that, effective immediately, case closure documents will be issued solely through the EEOC’s Portal and will no longer be sent to parties by U.S. Mail. Importantly, this means that the EEOC’s Notice of Right to Sue Letter to the complainant, which starts the clock ticking on their time to file suit in court, will no longer be mailed. Any lawsuit based on allegations raised in an EEOC complaint must be filed within 90 days of the complainant’s receipt of the Notice of Right to Sue Letter. Failure to timely file suit results in the claims being time barred. In many cases, there are questions about when the complainant received the letter via mail. Hopefully, providing notice via the Portal will eliminate those disputes and allow employers to more easily get cases dismissed when they are not timely filed. Employers should confirm that the company contact identified in the EEOC’s Portal is accurate to ensure timely notice of case closure and promptly retrieve and retain the documents, along with documentation of the date they were posted.
