​​The anti-discrimination laws give you a limited amount of time to file a charge of employment discrimination. You need to file a charge within 300 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place. Regardless of how much time you have to file, it is best to file as soon as you have decided that is what you would like to do.​​  For housing, complaints must be filed within one year  the day the discrimination took place.​  Public accommodations discrimination must be filed within six (6) months from the day the discrimination took place  Regardless of how much time you have to file, it is best to file as soon as you have decided that is what you would like to do.

Time limits for filing a charge with MCCR generally will not be extended while you attempt to resolve a dispute through another forum such as an internal grievance procedure, a union grievance, arbitration or mediation before filing a charge with MCCR. Other forums for resolution may be pursued at the same time as the processing of the MCCR charge.

Holidays and weekends are included in the calculation, although if the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, you will have until the next business day. Figuring out how much time you have to file a charge is complicated. If you aren't sure how much time is left, you should contact our office as soon as possible so we can assess whether you still have time.

More Than One Discriminatory Event Took Place

Also, if more than one discriminatory event took place, the deadline usually applies to each event. For example, let's say you were demoted and then fired a year later. You believe the employer based its decision to demote and fire you on your race, and you file a charge the day after your discharge. In this case, only your claim of discriminatory discharge is timely. In other words, you must have filed a charge challenging the demotion within 300 days from the day you were demoted. If you didn't, we would only investigate your discharge. There is one exception to this general rule and that is if you are alleging ongoing harassment.

Ongoing Harassment

In harassment cases, you must file your charge within 2 years of the last incident of harassment, although we will look at all incidents of harassment when investigating your charge, even if the earlier incidents happened more than 2 years earlier.