​Going to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) without legal consultation can be dangerous.

Going to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) without legal consultation can be dangerous. Recently the Houston Court of Appeals held that because an employee who was wrongfully discharged because of discrimination should lose his case because he did not state in his charge that he was “constructively discharged” in his Charge of Discrimination at the EEOC. Constructive Discharge simply means that you were forced to resign your job because of the discrimination. The Court said that the charge of discrimination did not say this so the employee should lose his case. This case is really out there and very anti-employee. I am not sure what is going on with the Houston 14th Court of Appeals but apparently they are trying to make sure that fired, injured and discriminated against employees do not have a claim. This is not a Supreme Court of Texas Decision but it is a dangerous case for employees who go to the EEOC and their charge is not complete. In Harris County Hospital District v. Parker, ___ S.W .3d ___, 2015 WL 9311510 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2015) the discriminated against employee (wrongful termination) allegation of constructive discharge was not mentioned in his underlying administrative charge. The Houston Court of Appeals held that the wrongfully terminated employee’s claim was barred in this court action, because the EEOC charge did not include an allegation of constructive discharge. The wrongfully terminated employee’s EEOC intake questionnaire did allege constructive discharge, but the Houston Court of Appeals held that an allegation in an intake questionnaire can expand the scope of a subsequent charge only if the employer was aware of the allegation, and there was no evidence of the employer’s knowledge of the allegation in this case. This is a terrible opinion and these are elected Judges from the Houston Court of Appeals 14th District. These elected judges are clearly making decisions that are devastating for fired and injured and wrongfully terminated employees.