"My Right to Sue means I have a great case!"

September 23, 2010, by

So, you've been issued a "Right to Sue" letter by the EEOC.  Does this mean you have a great case and all you need is an attorney to file your lawsuit? 

No.  You may have a good case (or even no case), but a Right to Sue letter is not decisive of anything.   It simply means that the EEOC isn't going to represent you, but you still have a right to pursue your claim.  This seems counter intuitive, but let me repeat: the EEOC hasn't concluded anything by issuing this letter - except that they won't be pursuing your claim. 

The EEOC gets about 80,000 charges of discrimination each year but only files about 300 lawsuits a year.  Private employment law attorneys handle the rest of the cases.  Note that the EEOC must first issue a Right to Sue letter before an attorney can file a lawsuit.  That's why your first step should be to contact the local EEOC office.  Here's the information for the Oklahoma City office:

215 Dean A McGee Avenue
5th Floor
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Phone: 800-669-4000

The EEOC office also provides a lot of informative handouts to help walk you through the process. 

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