Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") is a law that allows any member of the public to request copies of federal government records, including EEOC records.  5 U.S.C. § 552.

EEOC makes many records publicly available on the EEOC's main website, such as informal discussion letters and guidance documents. Documents are also available in the FOIA E-Library (an electronic collection), and in physical libraries located at EEOC Headquarters (131 M Street, N.E., Suite 4SW16N, Washington, D.C. 20507) and District Offices.  Before requesting a document through FOIA, please check to see whether it is available in one of these locations. 

Charge Files

Special rules apply to requests for records that relate to a charge of discrimination that has been filed with the EEOC (a collection of all the records related to a charge is called a "charge file").

You can only request a charge file if you are the person who filed the charge (the "charging party"), or the employer who was accused of discrimination (the "respondent"), and the EEOC has completed its investigation of the charge of employment discrimination.

• A charging party can request a charge file up to 90 days after receiving a Notice of Right to Sue letter, which the EEOC will send after it finishes investigating the case and decides to take no further action.  A charging party can also request a copy of the file after filing an employment discrimination lawsuit against the respondent in federal or state court.
• A respondent can request a copy of a charge file only after the charging party has filed a lawsuit against it in federal or state court.

If you are requesting a charge file, you can choose to make a request under Section 83 Disclosure of Information in Charge Files, instead of FOIA request. A Section 83 request will be processed more quickly, but you will not receive an explanation of why certain information in the file was withheld, if any, and you will not have the right to appeal the decision to withhold the information. 

For more detailed information on FOIA, see Resources.

Online FOIA Requests and Appeals

We are implementing a two-factor authentication process for signing into our FOIA system to better protect your personal information on December 17, 2022. To log in, you will be prompted to create a new username and password with Login.gov. After that, whenever you log in to the FOIA online site, you will use the Login.gov username and password, as well as a special code to authenticate your identity and protect your account. Once you authenticate, you will have immediate access to the FOIA system to file a new FOIA request or appeal, check the status of a pending request, or retrieve requested files. For detailed steps on how to set up two-factor authentication, please see the EEOC FOIA Login.gov User Steps.