Although somewhat anecdotal, over the past several years we have seen a marked increase in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges that are closed by the agency before completing an investigation. In many of these situations, the EEOC closes the charge and issues a right to sue letter before requiring the employer to provide a position statement or other response to the charge.

There could be a number of reasons for early dismissal of an EEOC charge. Sometimes the charging party is represented by an attorney who wants to proceed to court without waiting for the agency to complete its investigation. That attorney requests early issuance of the letter on the basis that they plan to sue regardless of the outcome of the investigation, and because they have the ability to require closure 180 days after the charge is filed.

In other situations, the EEOC may close a charge investigation before reaching a determination if the charging party stops cooperating with the agency or if the EEOC investigator is unable to contact that person. We suspect that in some cases, the investigator concludes early on that the charge does not meet legal minimums for claiming a violation of federal civil rights laws and closes the charge in order to avoid spending time on claims that have little chance of demonstrating merit.

Finally, this pattern of early charge closures may reflect staffing and budget challenges within the EEOC. With the agency shifting its investigative priorities to charge categories favored by the Trump administration, the EEOC may not have the resources to fully investigate lower priority claims. For employers, receipt of notice that a charge has been filed does not mean that they will be required to respond. If the charge notification indicates that no action is required at this time, the company may decide to wait to see if any response will be required before marshalling the resources necessary to provide a full reply. 

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