EEOC investigation: What happens after the request for information?
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EEOC investigation: What happens after the request for information?

EEOC staff and their role in your EEOC investigation.
These are regular people, just like you and me. They’re busy. Definitely establish a rapport with them. Always be professional. Always be cordial. When you’re asking for extensions of time, the agencies are pretty good about giving them, but don’t go overboard. Don’t do it for everything, every aspect of the case. Be sparing.

When you’re completing the request for information and if you’ve got a good relationship with the agency staff, you’ll have a better time of negotiating the questions to determine what the agency’s really looking for.

After the position statement and request for information is submitted is when the onsite EEOC investigation may start

They could request more information, which may be an indication of which way the agency is leaning. The investigator may be just trying to finish up the EEOC investigation portion of the claim. They may have a couple of additional questions. They may want to do an on-site EEOC investigation to interview some key players or review some records. They may also want to do a fact-finding conference, where they call in the parties and want to just ask a couple of questions. They may want to do telephone interviews with witnesses. And then, they will make a determination and you’ll proceed from there.

An on-site EEOC investigation.
They have the authority to conduct an on-site investigation at their discretion. And usually, what it includes is, reviewing files, interviewing witnesses and making a physical inspection of the workplace. They’re not used that frequently.

Trigger questions for an onsite EEOC investigation
EEOC onsite investigations are likely when you can answer yes to these questions:

    • Do you have a time constraint or do they have a time constraint?
    • Is the statute of limitation about to expire?
    • Is some kind of interim release necessary before they rule?
    • Does the person — do people need to be separated in the workplace?
    • Does somebody need an accommodation?
    • Is the evidence really something they have to see for themselves?
    • Do they have to see the office set-up?
    • Has the agency had bad experience with the company before? If so, they’re much more likely to come in and not take your word for it.
    • Are they concerned about company destroying evidence?
    • What is the nature of the allegation?

Is it, for example, Americans with Disabilities Act charge, where they might have to see how somebody was accommodated? Then, an on-site investigation may be more appropriate.

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