Deadlines

You have a very limited time to take legal action. For most discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims in Illinois, you must file a formal "Charge of Discrimination" with the EEOC or the state agency (IDHR) within 300 days of the discriminatory act. If you miss this deadline, you lose your right to sue. Do not rely on what friends tell you. Calculate your deadline immediately.

Scenario 1: The Continuing Violation. An employee endures a pattern of racial harassment for over a year. While some of the early acts of harassment fall outside the 300-day window, the most recent act was only a month ago. Under the "continuing violation" doctrine, she can likely include the earlier acts in her claim because they were part of an ongoing pattern of illegal conduct.

Scenario 2: The Paycheck Rule. An employee discovers she is being paid less than her male counterparts. Each paycheck she receives that is less than what she is owed is a new act of discrimination, restarting the 300-day clock. This is known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Scenario 3: The Confused Claimant. An employee files a lawsuit in court for discrimination without first filing a charge with the EEOC. The court will dismiss his case because he failed to 'exhaust administrative remedies,' a required first step. He must go through the agency process first.

Scenario 4: The Late Lawyer. An employee contacts a lawyer on day 290 of her 300-day deadline. The lawyer, unable to properly investigate and prepare a charge in just 10 days, declines the case. The employee waited too long.

Scenario 5: The Wrong Agency. An employee with a wage theft claim files a charge with the EEOC. The EEOC only handles discrimination claims. By the time she realizes her mistake and goes to the Department of Labor, the statute of limitations for her wage claim has expired. DECODER RING: Statute of Limitations The law that sets the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. For you, it is a countdown clock that starts the moment the illegal act occurs. If you let it hit zero, your rights disappear. THE ALGORITHMIC SHADOW The Algorithmic Shadow When you are seeking legal help for a case involving AI, it is crucial to find a lawyer who understands this new frontier of law and technology. Not all employment lawyers are equipped to handle the unique challenges of algorithmic discrimination. The fight for justice now requires a legal team that knows what to demand in discovery, how to challenge the validity of a vendor's black box algorithm, and how to present compelling statistical evidence of disparate impact to a judge or jury. The legal landscape is evolving at lightning speed, and your representation must be at the vanguard. Landmark decisions have established that AI vendors can be held liable as an employer's agent in the hiring process , meaning plaintiffs can now pursue claims against both the employer and the vendor that built the discriminatory tool. For the full discussion of this precedent, see Chapter 21. This new battleground is being defined by aggressive state laws and new federal enforcement actions. The Colorado AI Act (SB 24-205), the nation's first comprehensive AI anti-discrimination law, now imposes stringent duties on both developers and employers to prevent algorithmic bias. This stands in stark contrast to weaker statutes like NYC Local Law 144, which only requires bias audits that many employers can sidestep. Federal agencies are also stepping in, with the EEOC's 2023 guidance affirming that Title VII's protections apply fully to AI tools, a position underscored by its first-ever AI lawsuit settlement in EEOC v. iTutorGroup, which involved an AI tool that explicitly screened out older applicants. More recently, theACLU v. HireVue/Intuit (2025) case challenges AI-powered video interviews that allegedly discriminate against deaf and Indigenous applicants, showing how bias can infect every stage of the automated hiring process. Discovery in these cases is a war over transparency. Employers and their AI vendors will fight relentlessly to shield their algorithms, data sets, and testing protocols as proprietary trade secrets. A winning plaintiff-side strategy requires forcing them to open the black box. This involves demanding the algorithm's source code, the data it was trained on, the results of any internal bias audits, and the vendor's contracts. It requires assembling a team of expert witnesses, data scientists, AI ethicists, and industrial-organizational psychologists, who can deconstruct the technology and prove its discriminatory impact in court. Plaintiff-Side Insight: The legal framework has fundamentally shifted. You are no longer limited to suing just the employer who rejected you. Courts have held that the AI vendor is now a viable defendant (see Chapter 21). When you send your preservation demand, send it to both the employer and the AI vendor. Demand the vendor's contracts, training data, and bias audit results. This dual-track strategy dramatically expands your leverage and your potential recovery. CLOCKED IN Clocked In The Clock is Your Boss: The statute of limitations is the most unforgiving rule in law. It does not care if your case is strong. 300 Days is the Magic Number: For most discrimination claims in Illinois, you have 300 days to file an agency charge. Do not forget it. Do Not Wait: The single biggest mistake you can make is waiting too long to act. Contact a lawyer or an agency immediately. In the next chapter, we enter the battleground: discrimination, the most common and most devastating form of workplace injustice. MY DEADLINES Cut This Page Out. Tape It to Your Refrigerator. DA T E O F A D V E R S E A C T I O N (the day you were fired, demoted, denied promotion, or harassed) D ate: _____ / _____ / _____ DE A D L I N E 1 : F I L E E E O C / S T A T E A G E N C Y C H A R G E 1 80 days from adverse action (no state agency): _____ / _ ____ / _____ 3 00 days from adverse action (Illinois and other d eferral states): _____ / _____ / _____ THIS IS YOUR MOST CRITICAL DEADLINE. If you miss it, you lose the right to sue. Period. DE A D L I N E 2 : F I L E L A W S U I T A F T E R R I G H T - T O - S U E NO T I C E D ate you received Right-to-Sue notice: _____ / _____ / _ ____ 9 0 days from that date: _____ / _____ / _____ DE A D L I N E 3 : A D E A ( A G E D I S C R I M I N A T I O N ) , N O NO T I C E N E E D E D 6 0 days after filing EEOC charge, you CAN file a l awsuit: _____ / _____ / _____ 2 years from discriminatory act (lawsuit must be filed b y): _____ / _____ / _____ 3 years if violation was willful: _____ / _____ / _____ DE A D L I N E 4 : E Q U A L P A Y A C T , N O C H A R G E N E E D E D 2 years from last discriminatory paycheck: _____ / _ ____ / _____ 3 years if violation was willful: _____ / _____ / _____ DE A D L I N E 5 : R E S P O N D T O E M P L O Y E R ' S E E O C PO S I T I O N S T A T E M E N T D ate Position Statement received: _____ / _____ / _ ____ 3 0 days from that date: _____ / _____ / _____ MY L A W Y E R ' S C O N T A C T I N F O R M A T I O N N ame: _________________________________ P hone: _________________________________ E mail: _________________________________ E EOC CHARGE NUMBER: _ ________________________________ Check every deadline twice. When in doubt, file early. You can always withdraw a claim. You can never un-miss a deadline. A downloadable version of this worksheet is available at clockedout.ai Before You Move On ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ CH A P T E R 5 A C T I O N C H E C K L I S T I have filled in the "My Deadlines" worksheet I have marked my filing deadline on my calendar with a reminder 30 days before I understand whether I am in a 180-day or 300-day filing jurisdiction I understand that I must file with an agency BEFORE I can file a lawsuit I have NOT waited to "see if things get better", the clock is ticking regardless SECTION SUMMARY This chapter explains the most critical rule in your case: the deadline to take legal action, known as the Statute of Limitations. For most discrimination claims in Illinois, you have 300 days from the harmful act to file a formal 'Charge of Discrimination' with a government agency. If you miss this deadline, you permanently lose your right to sue, no matter how strong your case is. It is essential to calculate your deadline immediately and contact an attorney as soon as possible, because the clock is ticking.