Received an EEOC Charge? Bring Counsel In Early.

A notice from a government agency about a discrimination charge can arrive without warning. Owners and HR managers often feel pressure to act fast and get it right. This guide explains the usual steps when hiring outside counsel for an EEOC charge or a Florida Commission on Human Relations charge.

What steps does an employer typically go through when hiring outside counsel to respond to an EEOC or Florida Commission on Human Relations charge?

Employers usually read the notice, track the deadlines, preserve records, bring in counsel, gather the facts, and then prepare the written response. The order can shift with the facts and the agency involved.

The notice names the agency. The Florida Commission on Human Relations handles charges under the Florida Civil Rights Act. Check both possibilities early.

State law covers an employer with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks, in the current or preceding calendar year, under Fla. Stat. § 760.02. Count your employees for those weeks before you decide which rules apply.

Write the response date on your calendar the day the notice arrives. A missed date can create problems that were avoidable. Many employers bring in counsel during this first stage so the timeline is handled from the start.

What to Do in the First Days After a Charge Notice Arrives

Send the notice to the owner or final decision-maker, stop informal replies, and preserve every relevant record. These steps protect the company before the formal response begins.

Ask that no one reply to the person who filed the charge or to the agency on their own. A casual message can create a record that is hard to correct later.

Florida law makes it unlawful for an employer, an employment agency, a joint labor-management committee, or a labor organization to discriminate against someone for opposing an unlawful employment practice, or for making a charge, testifying, assisting, or participating in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing, under Fla. Stat. § 760.10. Managers should not change pay, schedules, or duties for the employee who filed the charge or for any witness without first talking to counsel.

Issue a written hold on records. Cover emails, texts, personnel files, schedules, pay records, and policies tied to the charge. Tell staff not to delete anything, even records they think don’t matter.

Make a list of the managers and coworkers who saw the events in the charge. Note each person’s role. Keep that list for counsel rather than circulating it widely.

How Employers Choose and Engage Outside Employment Counsel

Employers usually bring in outside counsel for a single charge or under a continuing outside general counsel relationship. The scope of the work is best set in writing at the start.

Outside general counsel handles routine business legal questions for the company over time. A charge-only engagement covers the agency response and related work. Either way, the scope, roles, and fee terms are discussed at the outset.

KEW Legal is a Florida business law firm with offices in Coral Gables and Sunny Isles Beach. It handles employment law for employers alongside partnership, contract, and commercial lease matters. Kristina E. Wilson is the lawyer responsible for this page.

When comparing counsel, ask who will do the work and how the timeline will be managed. Ask what the engagement covers and what it does not. Clear answers help the company decide what it needs.

Gathering the Facts and Documents Counsel Needs

Counsel typically reviews the charge, personnel and pay records, relevant policies, prior complaints, and information about how similar employees were treated. Each category helps build an accurate account of events.

Counsel then talks with managers and witnesses to learn the order of events. This happens before any position is written, so the response rests on verified facts.

Keep discussions about the charge within a small circle. Under Fla. Stat. § 90.502, a client can refuse to disclose confidential communications made to obtain legal services. A message is confidential only if it is not intended to be disclosed to third persons other than those needed to deliver that legal help or those reasonably necessary for the transmission of the communication.

The privilege does not apply when a lawyer’s services were sought or obtained to enable or aid anyone to commit or plan to commit what the client knew was a crime or fraud. Counsel can explain where those lines fall for your situation.

Handbooks need review too. Florida courts hold that policy statements in an employee handbook usually do not create enforceable contract rights, unless the manual clearly says it is a separate employment contract. See Quaker Oats Co. v. Jewell.

Preparing the Agency Response and What Comes Next

Counsel usually prepares a position statement, which is the employer’s written response to the agency. The statement is built from facts that have been checked, not from assumptions.

An agency may ask for more information. Some charges move toward mediation. Counsel handles each communication with the agency so the company’s answers stay consistent.

The Florida Commission on Human Relations has 180 days from the filing of a complaint to decide whether there is reasonable cause. It must promptly notify both sides, under Fla. Stat. § 760.11.

Complaints filed with the commission, and records that relate to and identify a particular person, are confidential under Fla. Stat. § 760.11. The commission cannot disclose complaints or records that identify a particular person, except to the parties or in a hearing or proceeding.

Quick answers

Talk With KEW Legal About Your Charge

If you just received a charge notice, you may be protecting the company and planning next steps at the same time. You do not have to sort out the deadline, the records, and the response alone.

Call 305-990-2300 or send a message through the KEW Legal contact page to talk through your notice. Your first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue.