The continuing violation doctrine allows an employee to include multiple acts of discrimination when filing an employment discrimination case. An employee in Texas is allowed to add extra charges against his or her employer and increase the seriousness of a case. This doctrine ensures that no act of discrimination is ignored or undervalued, especially if a local, state or federal law is involved.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requirements
In Texas, a discrimination claim is submitted to the EEOC within 180 days of the unlawful act. The deadline can be extended to 300 days for a violation of a state or local law.
The continuing violation rule allows an employee to include multiple acts of discrimination that occur within one year in his or her lawsuit. The acts can occur any time within the 300 days and must be part of ongoing patterns of similar violations.
Types of workplace discrimination laws
Workplace discrimination takes multiple forms and requires the interpretation of different laws and clauses. For instance, age discrimination against older workers is one of the most common forms of prejudice that occur in the workplace. The law is applicable to all cases that involve the government but only applies to private employers with a minimum of 15 employees.
In general, the continuing violation clause provides additional protections in cases of employment discrimination. Workers are given 180 days to file an EEOC claim and may extend the deadline to 300 days if it violates anti-discrimination law. Several acts of discrimination that occur within the time span are often included in one case. The continuing violations have to be part of a long-term period of similar incidents.