Received an FCHR Charge? Respond With Counsel by Your Side

If the Florida Commission on Human Relations sent your business a charge notice, you need a clear plan fast. An FCHR charge is a discrimination complaint against your business. It is an allegation, not a finding. This page explains what the notice means, which agency may be involved, and how an FCHR charge attorney for employers in Florida can support you from the first days through resolution. KEW Legal is a Florida business law firm with offices in Coral Gables and Sunny Isles Beach.

What an FCHR Charge Is and Who This Service Is For

An FCHR charge is a written complaint that someone files with the Florida Commission on Human Relations. It says your business discriminated against them. The state law behind it is the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, found in Chapter 760 of the Florida Statutes.

The act 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 (Fla. Stat. 760.02). Confirm your headcount against that test with counsel.

A notice is not a court judgment. It starts an agency process. The charge stays an allegation while the agency reviews the facts.

This page is for business owners, HR leaders, and managers. You may have received a notice, or you may expect one after an internal complaint. Florida law makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an individual because of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status, as set out in Fla. Stat. 760.10. Retaliation is a separate basis, covered below.

Kristina E. Wilson is the responsible lawyer for this page. The firm’s lawyers include Natalie Martinez.

Holding a notice now? Talk it through with counsel early, before anyone responds.

FCHR or EEOC: Which Agency Handles Your Charge

A charge can involve the FCHR, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or both. Read the notice to see which agency issued it and which law it cites.

The EEOC employer guidance describes federal anti-discrimination duties for employers. State and federal law don’t always cover the same employers or the same categories. Every business’s situation is different, so it can help to review the relevant facts with a lawyer.

For the federal side of the process, see our EEOC charge response for employers page.

Whichever agency is involved, keep one set of facts. Answers that conflict across agencies are hard to fix later.

What to Do in the First Days After a Notice Arrives

Read the notice closely in the first days. Write down the charge number, the filing date, the agency, and the response deadline it states.

• Don’t discuss the merits informally. Avoid talking about the charge with the employee or the agency before the facts are reviewed.
• Preserve records. Keep personnel files, emails, texts, schedules, pay records, performance reviews, and written policies. Stop routine deletion.
• List the decision-makers and witnesses. Limit internal talk about the charge to people who need to know.
• Avoid retaliation. Florida law makes it unlawful for an employer, employment agency, joint labor-management committee, or labor organization to discriminate against any person because that person has opposed any practice which is an unlawful employment practice under this section, or because that person has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this section (Fla. Stat. 760.10). Route any change in pay, schedule, or duties through counsel first.

Contact KEW Legal early, so your response starts with the facts and the deadline in view.

Deadlines: What the Notice Sets and What the Law Sets

The response deadline is the one written on your notice, and you must meet it. The law also sets timing for an employee who sues. Under Fla. Stat. 760.11, a civil action must be commenced no later than 1 year after the commission’s reasonable cause determination or the EEOC’s Notice of Right to Sue, whichever is earlier. If neither a reasonable cause determination nor a Notice of Right to Sue is issued within 180 days after the complaint is filed, the civil action may be commenced no later than 18 months after the filing of the complaint. Where the commission fails to conciliate or fails to determine whether there is reasonable cause, a civil action must be commenced within 1 year after the date the commission certifies that its notice was mailed.

If neither happens within 180 days after the complaint is filed, the action may be started no later than 18 months after filing. Fla. Stat. § 760.11 reads: “The commencement of such action shall divest the commission of jurisdiction of the complaint, except that the commission may intervene in the civil action as a matter of right.”

Write down every date the moment the notice arrives. Have counsel confirm each one. Which date applies to your matter turns on what the agency does and when.

The Position Statement and the Agency Investigation

A position statement is your business’s written response to the charge. It sets out your account of the facts and your legal position.

Accuracy matters most. Statements you make to an agency can be used later if the matter goes further. Each factual claim should match a record.

An investigation may include requests for documents, questions to managers, interviews, and follow-up contact with the agency.

Before anything is filed, counsel usually reviews the timeline, how similar employees were treated, your written policies, and the documented reasons for the decision.

Florida law allows certain distinctions on the basis of religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status when that trait is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary for the job. Whether that exception fits your facts is a question for counsel.

Our team works with your owners, HR, and managers. That keeps the response consistent with the record.

Mediation, Settlement, Dismissal, and Next Steps

Mediation and settlement can resolve a charge before it moves further. Each term deserves careful review.

Mediation communications are generally confidential. Under Fla. Stat. 44.405, a participant may not share them with anyone except another participant or a participant’s counsel.

A signed settlement agreement is different. The same statute says a signed written agreement reached in mediation has no confidentiality or privilege, unless the parties agree otherwise. Put any confidentiality terms into the agreement itself.

Settlement talks also get some protection in court. Under Fla. Stat. 90.408, an offer to compromise a disputed claim is inadmissible to prove liability or the claim’s value.

A reasonable cause determination has limited use. It is not admissible in a civil proceeding, except to establish the right to bring the private action.

If a lawsuit follows, the court may order the practice stopped and award back pay. It may also award compensatory damages, including damages for mental anguish. Under Florida law, the court has discretion over whether to award attorney fees in these actions, and the right to a jury trial is preserved where the aggrieved person seeks compensatory or punitive damages.

In a lawsuit for damages, an offer of judgment can shift costs and fees. If the plaintiff does not accept the defendant’s offer within 30 days and the judgment is one of no liability or the plaintiff’s judgment is at least 25 percent less than the offer, the defendant is entitled to recover reasonable costs and attorney’s fees incurred from the date of filing, unless the court finds the offer was not made in good faith and disallows them (Fla. Stat. 768.79).

Outcomes depend on the facts and the agency’s review. No particular result can be promised.

Next, track every deadline, update policies where needed, and document any corrective step. Handbook language matters too. Florida courts have held that manual policies usually don’t create enforceable contract rights, unless the manual says it is a separate employment contract (Quaker Oats Co. v. Jewell).

Why Employers Work With KEW Legal

KEW Legal handles employment law for employers as part of its work as outside general counsel for business owners and investors. The firm has offices in Coral Gables and Sunny Isles Beach. It serves employers in Miami-Dade and Broward County.

Support can run from the first notice to resolution. That includes deadlines, document preservation, position statement drafting, and coordination with leadership and HR.

KEW Legal works as an FCHR charge attorney for employers in Florida, with the lawyers named on this page. Your first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue (consulta inicial gratuita, confidencial y sin compromiso). You can also reach out through our contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions