The EEOC Notice of Right to Sue and the 90-Day Deadline in New York

A notice of right to sue is the document the EEOC issues when it closes a charge of discrimination, or when the person who filed the charge asks to be released to court.⁠^[9] Under Title VII, the federal civil rights statute, a lawsuit against the employer named in the charge may be brought within 90 days after that notice is given, so the notice both clears the federal claim for court and starts a short clock.⁠^[1]

That 90-day clock belongs to federal law. Court claims under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) each have a three-year period, counted from the events themselves and not from any EEOC notice.⁠^[7][10][8] Keeping the three layers apart is the main point of this page.

Which claims need a right-to-sue notice, and which do not

Only some federal claims pass through the EEOC. The table sets out, law by law, whether a charge and a notice come before a lawsuit and how long the person then has to sue.

Law	Layer	Before a lawsuit	Time to sue
Title VII	Federal	An EEOC charge and a notice of right to sue⁠[11][9]	Within 90 days after the notice⁠[1]
Americans with Disabilities Act (employment)	Federal	The same procedures as Title VII, which the ADA adopts⁠[12]	The same 90-day window⁠[12]
Age Discrimination in Employment Act	Federal	A charge, but no notice: suit may begin once 60 days have passed after the charge⁠[13]	If the EEOC dismisses or ends the charge, within 90 days after receipt of its notice⁠[13]
Equal Pay Act	Federal	No charge⁠[14]	Two years, or three years for a willful violation⁠[14]
42 U.S.C. § 1981 (race)	Federal	No EEOC charge⁠[15]	Four years for claims made possible by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, such as hostile work environment and termination claims⁠[16]
NYSHRL, in court	New York State	No agency filing⁠[17]	Three years⁠[17]
NYCHRL, in court	New York City	No agency filing⁠[18]	Three years⁠[8]

For Title VII, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2019 that the charge-filing step is a mandatory claim-processing rule rather than a limit on a court's power: a court enforces it when the employer raises it in time, and an employer that waits too long can lose the objection.⁠^[19] That holding does not make the charge optional. The guide to filing an EEOC charge in New York covers the step that comes first.

When does the EEOC issue the notice?

Under federal law the notice can arrive in several ways, and the route affects what it tells you.

• After a no-cause determination. When the EEOC completes its investigation without finding reasonable cause, it issues a determination saying so, and the person still receives a notice of right to sue.⁠^[6]
• After a cause finding and failed conciliation. If the EEOC finds reasonable cause, it first tries to resolve the matter informally; where that fails and the EEOC decides not to sue, it issues a notice of right to sue.⁠^[20]
• On request, after 180 days. Once 180 days have passed from the filing of the charge, a charging party who asks in writing is entitled to the notice where the employer is not a government body.⁠^[3]
• On request, before 180 days. An earlier notice may be issued only if an authorized EEOC director certifies in writing that the agency probably cannot complete its processing within 180 days of filing.⁠^[4]
• Government employers. Where the respondent is a government, governmental agency or political subdivision, the EEOC issues the notice when it dismisses a charge and the Attorney General issues it in the other cases.⁠^[21]

The EEOC reports that it takes approximately 10 months on average to investigate a charge.⁠^[22] In fiscal year 2025, 63.4% of the charges it resolved ended in a no-reasonable-cause determination and 2.6% in a reasonable-cause finding.⁠^[23]

What the notice does and does not mean

A notice issued after a no-cause determination is not a decision that the employee was wrong. The EEOC's own regulation says the determination "does not mean the claims in the charge have no merit."⁠^[6] A notice issued on request comes before the EEOC has completed its investigation.⁠^[9]

The notice also does not mean the EEOC will take the case. Under Title VII the EEOC may itself sue a private employer after conciliation fails, and it refers cases against government employers to the Attorney General.⁠^[1] The EEOC says it ultimately litigates a small percentage of all charges filed.⁠^[9] For most people, then, the notice leaves the decision about a lawsuit with the person who filed the charge.

The EEOC describes the notice as permission to file a lawsuit in federal or state court.⁠^[9] The guide to State court and federal court explains how the two differ.

Should you request the notice early?

There is no single right answer, and the federal rules pull in different directions.

• Issuing the notice ends further EEOC processing of the charge unless an EEOC director decides that continuing would serve the statute's purposes.⁠^[5] The EEOC puts it plainly: a person who wants the agency to keep investigating should not request the notice.⁠^[9]
• EEOC mediation, which the agency describes as voluntary and free of charge to both sides, is part of the charge process.⁠^[24]
• Once the notice is issued, the 90 days for the federal claim begin.⁠^[1]
• A request can be uploaded through the EEOC Public Portal or sent to the office investigating the charge, with the charge number and the names of the parties.⁠^[9]

Practical questions to weigh: how much of the three-year State and City periods is left, whether the investigation is producing anything useful, and whether a court complaint is ready to file once the 90 days begin.⁠^[7][8][1]

How are the 90 days counted?

Title VII says a civil action may be brought "within ninety days after the giving of such notice."⁠^[1] The EEOC's regulation describes the same period as 90 days "from receipt" of the authorization.⁠^[2] The EEOC tells the public that the deadline is set by law and that a person who does not file in time may be prevented from going forward.⁠^[9]

Two details in the federal statute are easy to miss. The lawsuit it authorizes is one "against the respondent named in the charge," so the employer named in the charge matters.⁠^[1] And the ADA's employment title borrows the same procedure, so a disability claim under federal law follows the same 90 days.⁠^[12]

Keep the envelope, the e-mail and any portal message that shows when the notice reached you, and write the date down the day it arrives. Because the regulation counts from receipt, a careful calendar counts from the earliest date the notice could have been received.⁠^[2]

State and City claims run on their own clock

The notice has no role under New York State or City law. A person may sue in court under the NYSHRL or the NYCHRL without filing with any agency first.⁠^[25][18] A charge that was filed with the EEOC and merely referred to the State Division of Human Rights or the NYC Commission on Human Rights is not treated as choosing the agency route, so it does not bar a later State or City court claim.⁠^[26] The guide to election of remedies explains that rule.

The time limits differ too. A court action under the NYSHRL is governed by a three-year period, and a court action under the NYCHRL must be commenced within three years after the alleged discriminatory practice.⁠^[7][8] Neither statute measures its period from an EEOC notice, which means two opposite mistakes are possible:

• Treating the 90 days as the deadline for everything. A person who misses the 90 days has lost time on the federal claim, but the State and City three-year periods are measured separately.⁠^[7][8]
• Treating the three years as protection for the federal claim. The federal claim has to be in court within 90 days after the notice even if years remain under State and City law.⁠^[1]

Waiting at the EEOC can also use up State and City time. The NYCHRL pauses its three-year period while a complaint is pending at the NYC Commission on Human Rights or the State Division of Human Rights; that sentence does not mention a charge filed with the EEOC.⁠^[8] Because that sentence names only the City and State agencies, the cautious assumption is that the months a charge spends at the EEOC still count against the State and City three years. The guide to tolling and other exceptions goes through what is and is not established.

When federal, State and City claims are filed together in federal court, the federal court can hear the State and City claims under its supplemental jurisdiction.⁠^[25] If that court later dismisses them, a federal statute stops their limitations clock for the time they were pending and for 30 days after the dismissal.⁠^[27]

What to do when the notice arrives

1. Record the date you received it and keep everything that proves that date.
2. Check which employer is named, because the federal lawsuit the notice authorizes is against the respondent named in the charge.⁠^[1]
3. List every claim you may have and look up each one's own time limit in the New York employment claim deadlines table.
4. Look for an arbitration agreement or a contract clause that shortens the time to sue in your hiring papers.
5. If the employer is a public body, read the guide to notice-of-claim rules for public employees; a school district employee, for example, faces a one-year period to sue under State law.⁠^[28]
6. If you are weighing whether to proceed at all, the page on whether you need a lawyer and the timeline of an employment lawsuit describe what comes next.