Now That You're Ready to File an Employment Discrimination Complaint With Your Employer, You’ll Want to Follow These uidelines:

Before you read this post, read the one dated Monday, November 28, 2005. This is a follow-up.

1. Go to the offending party first and give him (or her) a chance to make things right. The law requires you to take this first step. Again, do not give up your documentation. Do not let the person know you have documentation. Clearly state your allegation; providing no more information than is necessary. I suggest giving the offending party bulleted notes of what you plan to discuss. If you’re making a claim of gender bias, sexual harassment, or anything along those lines, make sure those key words are in the notes. The law does not require you to spell it out, but it will help your case tremendously if you do. Remember, keep the tone extremely professional. I’m not saying this will be easy, it rarely ever is, but it is absolutely essential.

2. Immediately following your meeting, make a note of the time, the date, what was said, your impressions, the offending party’s reaction and any response promised you. Put this in your file.

3. Let’s say nothing changes after you went to the offending party. Go to your supervisor. Approach your supervisor in the same manner as outlined above. If again, you receive no response or you feel you’re being retaliated against or if your supervisor happens to be the offending party, you’ll need to go to HR. Follow the grievances procedures in your employee handbook to the letter. Put your grievance in writing. Be strictly professional. If you’re making a claim of discrimination, say so in writing. You cannot file a claim of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Office if you did not make every effort to let your employer know about the problem. Don’t expect your employer to be forthright and admit to you verbalizing your grievances. Always have something in writing to back up your claim. Again, document every conversation with detailed accuracy. If nothing comes from your complaint with HR or if retaliatory measures are taken against you, you’ll be ready to file your complaint with the EEOC.