Employees who’ve filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) – such as discrimination, harassment or retaliation allegations – will now be able to continue the proceedings.
The EEOC had put a pause on issuing notices to employers back in March due to the pandemic, but have now resumed.
Major backlog
Over the past eight weeks, the EEOC has worked through the five-month backlog of charges and started issuing notices, either dismissing the allegations or giving employees the go-ahead to move forward with a lawsuit.
Because of the EEOC resuming notices after such a long period of time, employers can expect to see a sudden spike in employee lawsuits. This could also potentially overburden the courts.
The agency started reviewing charges back in early August, meaning employers can expect notices to arrive any day now.