The notice arrives, and the first thing you see is a deadline. An employee has filed an EEOC charge against your company, the response window is short, and every choice from here shapes what comes next. You need an employer-defense attorney who knows this process cold.
Request a Consultation
Tell Karin what arrived.
Send the basics and we'll reach out to schedule your consultation.
Confidential. Reviewed personally by Karin Backstrom.
Few things rattle a San Diego business owner like an envelope from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The allegations feel personal, the deadline feels impossible, and it is hard to know what is routine and what is dangerous. Here is the steadying truth. A charge is the beginning of a process, not a verdict, and how you handle the next few weeks matters far more than the fact that a charge was filed.
For more than 26 years, Karin Backstrom has represented California employers exclusively, resolving more than 500 employment matters and appearing before the EEOC and every major California employment agency.
From the first call you work with Karin herself, not a junior associate. As a senior employer defense attorney in San Diego, she has stood in front of the EEOC on behalf of employers for decades, so she can tell you quickly whether a charge is routine or serious and what your response needs to do.
Defending charges before the EEOC and the state agencies is the heart of her administrative agency practice, and if the matter later moves into the San Diego Superior Court or federal court, the same attorney defends it, so nothing gets handed off at the worst moment.
Bring us the charge the day it arrives. In one honest conversation you will understand what you are facing, how strong the claim really is, and exactly what has to happen before your deadline.
A charge of discrimination is a signed statement from an employee, former employee, or applicant claiming that your company violated a federal anti-discrimination law. The EEOC enforces several, including Title VII, which covers race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Equal Pay Act. Most of these laws apply to employers with at least fifteen employees, and twenty for age claims.
It is worth repeating, because owners often assume the worst. A charge is not a finding that you did anything wrong. It opens an administrative process in which the agency gathers information, weighs both sides, and decides whether there is reason to believe a violation occurred.
Many charges are resolved without any finding against the employer at all. What determines where yours lands is largely the quality and discipline of your response, not the volume of the allegations.
After you are notified of a charge, the EEOC typically asks for a position statement, and you generally have about thirty days to submit it. This single document is the most important thing you will produce during the investigation. It is your opportunity to tell your side, respond to each allegation with facts, and set out the legitimate business reasons behind the decisions at issue.
It also carries real risk if handled casually. The EEOC often shares the position statement with the employee who filed the charge, so every sentence will be read by the other side and can shape the case that follows. A vague denial, an overstatement, or an inconsistent detail can do lasting damage.
Because the administrative phase is really the pre-litigation phase, the record you build now can decide a lawsuit later, which is why understanding the process of responding to an EEOC charge before you draft anything is time well spent.
The response you file becomes part of the record for everything that follows. Let a senior attorney build it with you, so it protects your business instead of exposing it.
The first steps protect your position more than almost anything else you can do, and a few of them are easy to get wrong under pressure.
Calendar the deadline immediately
The response window is short and firm. Missing it can lead to adverse inferences and the loss of your only structured chance to be heard.
Preserve everything and issue a hold
Personnel files, emails, messages, schedules, and notes tied to the people and decisions in the charge should be locked down exactly as they exist.
Do not retaliate against the employee
Any adverse action against the person who filed can create a separate retaliation claim that is often harder to defend than the original one.
Keep the circle small
Limit who is involved in the response to the people who genuinely need to be, and route sensitive decisions through counsel.
Bring in privileged counsel early
Conversations with your attorney are protected in a way that internal discussions and outside consultants are not.
Many EEOC charges grow out of a firing or a workplace complaint, so the same facts may also surface as wrongful termination claims or allegations that call for a full harassment defense. Seeing the whole picture early keeps a single charge from quietly becoming several problems.
Once your position statement is in, the charge can move in a few directions, and knowing the map helps you make calm decisions rather than anxious ones.
The EEOC often offers mediation, a voluntary and confidential option that can resolve a matter early and quietly, and it sometimes reveals how thin or serious the underlying allegations really are. If the case proceeds instead, the agency investigates, may send requests for information, and reviews documents and witness accounts.
It then issues a determination. In many cases the EEOC dismisses the charge and issues a right-to-sue notice, which allows the employee to file a lawsuit within ninety days if they choose. In some cases the agency finds reasonable cause and invites the parties into conciliation to resolve the matter before any litigation. Whether to mediate, settle, or defend is a strategic decision, and it should be made with a clear read of your exposure rather than out of fear.
California employers rarely face the EEOC alone. The EEOC and the California Civil Rights Department operate under a work-sharing agreement, so a charge filed with one is frequently cross-filed with the other, which means the same conduct can raise parallel claims under both federal law and the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.
FEHA reaches smaller employers and allows remedies that federal law does not, so the state exposure is often the larger of the two.
That overlap is exactly why a general business attorney or an out-of-state firm is the wrong fit. Coordinating the federal and state responses so they do not contradict each other takes an attorney who works in both systems every day. Keeping your workplace policies and handbook current is also one of the best ways to keep the next charge from arriving at all.
Our approach starts with an honest read of your exposure, because you cannot decide whether to resolve a matter or defend it until you understand the realistic range of what it could cost. From there, we build the response around the facts your records actually support.
That means drafting a position statement that is factual, disciplined, and persuasive, advising you on whether mediation makes sense in your specific situation, managing requests for information so you produce what is required without volunteering what is not, and coordinating any parallel state charge so the two responses work together.
Throughout, you get a clear recommendation and the reasoning behind it, and the decision to settle or defend stays yours, made with straight advice and no false comfort.
Business owners and HR leaders across San Diego County and throughout California hire this firm for a combination that is hard to find. You get the credentials of a national employer-defense practice with the direct access of a boutique, from an attorney whose loyalty is never divided. From our office in Old Town San Diego, we represent employers only, across the full state.
The firm represents employers exclusively, so there is no conflict and no divided attention.
You deal with Karin, not a hand-off. The attorney who assesses your matter is the attorney who handles it.
Karin has practiced before the EEOC and every major California employment agency for decades, so the process is familiar rather than daunting.
Karin teaches courses for the Human Resources Certification Institute, the body behind the PHR and SPHR credentials, and speaks the same language as the HR leaders we work with.
You can read more about Karin Backstrom and the experience behind the firm, and then decide for yourself.
An EEOC charge moves on the agency's timeline, not yours, and the sooner we look at it together, the more options you keep. Start with a call or a short message, whichever is easier.
No. A charge is an administrative complaint, not a lawsuit and not a finding of wrongdoing. It begins a process in which the EEOC gathers information and decides whether there is reason to believe a violation occurred. Many charges close without any finding against the employer. A lawsuit only becomes possible later, and only if the employee pursues one after receiving a right-to-sue notice.
After being notified of a charge, an employer is typically asked to submit a position statement and generally has about thirty days to do it. The exact deadline is stated in the agency's notice and should be treated as firm. Extensions are sometimes granted for complex matters, but a late or missing response can seriously weaken your defense.
A position statement is the employer's written response to the charge, setting out the facts and the legitimate business reasons behind the decisions at issue. It matters because the EEOC relies on it heavily and often shares it with the employee who filed, so it becomes part of the record for any later lawsuit. A careful, fact-based statement can end an investigation, while a careless one can create problems that last.
Sometimes, and it depends on the facts. Mediation is voluntary and confidential, and it can resolve a matter early, quietly, and at lower cost, while also revealing how serious the allegations really are. It is not right for every case. Whether to mediate is a strategic decision best made with counsel after an honest read of your exposure.
A right-to-sue notice closes the EEOC's administrative process and allows the employee to file a lawsuit in court, generally within ninety days. It does not mean the employee will sue, and it is not a finding against you. It does mean the matter may move into litigation, so the record you built during the charge becomes important.
Yes, and it is common. The EEOC and the California Civil Rights Department share charges under a work-sharing agreement, so the same complaint often raises parallel claims under federal law and the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act. Because state law can reach smaller employers and allow broader remedies, the two responses need to be coordinated by an attorney who works in both systems.
An EEOC charge only gets harder to defend as the deadline nears and the record takes shape. Put a senior San Diego employer-defense attorney on it now and face what comes with a plan instead of worry.
