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Start with a dated chronology
Create a private record promptly while details are fresh. A notebook, dated journal, or secure digital document can work; the EEOC lists notes, diaries, and calendars as examples of potentially relevant records, but does not require a specific format. Keep the record factual and identify estimates or later recollections as such.
For each incident, record the details you can:
- Date and time: Give the exact time if known; otherwise state your best estimate.
- Place or medium: Note where it happened, or whether it occurred by email, chat, phone, video call, or another channel.
- People involved: Identify who said or did what, who was present, and any witnesses you know.
- Words and conduct: Quote exact words when you remember them. If you do not, summarize without presenting a paraphrase as a quotation.
- Your response and immediate aftermath: Record what you said or did and what happened next.
- Work consequences: Note any change in assignments, pay, hours, schedule, discipline, performance feedback, or other employment circumstances.
Separate what you personally saw or heard from what you infer. For example, record the sequence and timing of a schedule change after a complaint, but do not state that the complaint caused it unless you have a basis for that conclusion. The EEOC advises people who experience or witness race or color discrimination to keep records of what they experienced or witnessed and witness contact details: EEOC guidance on race and color discrimination.
Preserve documents and messages in context
Keep potentially relevant paper and electronic material that is lawfully available to you. The EEOC’s Public Portal guide gives examples such as paper and electronic information, communications, notes, diaries, and calendars, and advises retaining information that may relate to a charge: EEOC Public Portal guide to filing a charge.
Where possible, preserve a communication in its original form rather than relying only on a copied sentence or a rewritten summary. Keep the sender, recipients, date, attachments, and surrounding thread so the exchange has context. Potentially relevant records may include:
- Emails, workplace chat messages, texts, letters, and complaint acknowledgments or responses.
- Schedules, time records, pay statements, assignment notices, and performance feedback.
- Policies or accommodation-related communications connected to the events.
- Your dated notes, calendars, and records of meetings or calls.
Do not delete potentially relevant information. Do not access a system or file without authorization, or remove confidential employer records unlawfully. EEOC guidance to preserve potentially relevant material is not blanket permission to copy or take every workplace document. If you are unsure what you may retain, seek advice from a qualified adviser; if an EEOC investigator requests a document during an investigation, the agency tells respondents to ask the investigator about questions concerning the request: EEOC information about what employers can expect after a charge is filed.
Record witnesses and internal reports
For each witness, note their name and contact details if known, and the specific event they personally observed. Do not assume they share your interpretation or embellish what they can confirm. EEOC race and color guidance specifically recommends noting witness names, phone numbers, and addresses.
Keep a separate record of internal reports. Write down who you contacted, when and how you did so, what you reported, and how the employer responded. Save any acknowledgment and follow-up communication. This creates a clear record of the report and its timing without requiring you to characterize the employer’s motive.
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Track later treatment and possible retaliation
If treatment changes after you oppose discrimination or participate in an investigation, make a separate dated entry for every later event. Record concrete details—such as a changed schedule, new discipline, removed duties, or a performance assessment—along with the people involved and any related communications. Preserve records showing both the earlier complaint and the later event, and distinguish the timeline from your interpretation of why it happened.
The EEOC says retaliation is prohibited and advises people to contact the investigator promptly if retaliation occurs. Filing limits also apply to a retaliation claim, so promptly ask the investigator or qualified counsel how to report the event and what deadline applies: EEOC confidentiality guidance.
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Check the correct filing deadline now
For most laws enforced by the EEOC, a charge generally must be filed before a lawsuit; the Equal Pay Act is an exception. The EEOC’s general deadline is 180 calendar days from the alleged violation. It may extend to 300 calendar days when a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting discrimination on the same basis. The applicable rule depends on where the events occurred and the legal basis, and some claim types follow different rules. See the EEOC’s current charge-filing time limits and check promptly with the EEOC and relevant state or local agency rather than relying on a general timeline.
A charge is a signed statement asserting that an organization engaged in employment discrimination and requesting EEOC action. A personal chronology, internal complaint, or saved evidence is not itself an EEOC charge and does not pause a filing deadline. Federal employees and applicants use a different complaint process; the general charge timeline above should not be assumed to apply to them.
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The EEOC must notify an employer after a charge is filed. Information provided before filing is treated differently from information in a filed charge, so do not assume a filed charge will remain anonymous. Review the EEOC’s confidentiality guidance and discuss sensitive circumstances with a qualified adviser.
What employer record-retention rules do—and do not—mean
The EEOC summarizes selected recordkeeping obligations for covered employers: private employers generally retain covered personnel and employment records for one year, while educational institutions and state and local governments generally retain such records for two years. Special rules apply to certain records, and records related to a qualifying charge or action generally must be kept until final disposition: EEOC recordkeeping requirements.
These are employer obligations, not a complete account of an individual’s legal duties, and they are not a reason to wait before preserving your own lawful records or checking deadlines.
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