You must retain anything that might be evidence related to your charge. This includes ALL documents, communications, and electronic information that are potentially related to the claims of discrimination in your EEOC charge, including the harmcaused by the discrimination, and all records of your communications with the EEOC. Even if you are not sure whether the information is relevant to your discriminationclaim, please do not throw it away or delete it. PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW.
ø WHAT INFORMATION MUST YOU KEEP?
The following are some examples, not a complete list, of information you must keep. If you have questions about what you should or should not do, please contact your investigator.
Paper documents, such as:
Employee manuals, pay stubs, work schedules
Letters, memos, your notes, diaries, and calendars
Pictures, drawings, charts, whether or not they contain words
Electronic Information, such as:
E-mails, text messages, instant messages, tweets, social media posts and pictures
Word processing documents, electronic calendar entries
Electronic memory on devices or the devices themselves, such as:
Memory on computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones
Computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones
Do not delete, replace, alter, “wipe”, or “clear” or your computer hard drive, electronic tablet, or cell phone. Also ensure that settings for emails and text messages are not set to delete content after a certain period of time. If you experience a hard drive failure or need to upgrade your phone or device, please keep the hard drive or original phone or device. If you post to any social media platform like Facebook and Instagram, do not delete any posts related to your work or discriminatory conduct and consider making your accounts private.
WHY MUST YOU KEEP THIS INFORMATION? The information you must keep might be evidence related to your charge. We are required by the courts to ensure that all potentially relevant information is retained. Please note that if a lawsuit is filed based on your charge and you do not keep these records, this may cause you to lose your case, or to lose the right to recover money lost due to the discrimination.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR INFORMATION? Your investigator will discuss with you what information is needed by the EEOC to investigate your charge. Information that you provide that happens to be private or personal in nature will not be disclosed by the EEOC during its investigation, and if the EEOC files suit on your charge, we will do our best to keep such information out of the courtproceedings.
LOOK FOR WORK AND KEEP RECORDS OF YOUR JOB SEARCH IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED
If you lost your job or were not hired due to discrimination, you may be entitled to the pay or wages you lost. However, you cannot receive lost wages unless you can show that you looked for another job to replace the one you lost or were denied due to discrimination. To prove that you searched for work, you must keep copies of all letters, emails, or other evidence of your job search. If you find a new job but it pays less than the job you lost, you may be entitled to the difference in pay. Keep all evidence of your job search even if you find another job.
ø WHAT IS EVIDENCE OF YOUR JOB SEARCH?
The following types of information can prove that you have tried to find work. If you have questions about what you are required to do, please contact your investigator.
Copies of job applications and resumés
A list of all the companies you contact about jobs by phone, letter or in-person
Copies of e-mails or letters that you send to or receive from companies where you have asked about work or submitted an application
A list of all the places where you apply, and for each one:
the date of the application;
the position you were seeking;
the response you received from your application, such as rejection letters or invitations to interview;
whether you were interviewed and the date of the interview;
the results of the interview;
whether you turned down a job offer, and if you did, why
Notes about what you did not look for work (for example, searching the newspaper or Internet, attending job fairs or contacting employment agencies) and the dates that you conduct the search
Copies of your pay stubs or earnings records if you find another job.
ø KEEP YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION UP-TO-DATE
Once you file a charge with the EEOC, you must tell us if you move or get a new address, telephone number, or e-mail address. Just log into the EEOC Public Portal and update your contact information. We may need to talk to you to get more information. If EEOC cannot reach you to get necessary information, your charge may be dismissed.
To continue, please acknowledge that you have read the above instructions. You will be unable to proceed further with your inquiry until you submit this acknowledgement.