This unit runs the clocks and disclosures after a hiring or separation decision: suing on a right-to-sue notice, waiving ADEA rights, and pay claims under Ledbetter.
The 90-day suit window
Once a charging party receives a Notice of Right to Sue, a Title VII, ADA or GINA lawsuit must be filed within 90 days.
Keep the three numbers apart:
- 180 days: the default deadline to file a charge with the EEOC.
- 300 days: the extended charge deadline where a state or local agency enforces a comparable law.
- 90 days: the deadline to file suit after the right-to-sue notice.
OWBPA waiver periods
For an individual ADEA waiver in a severance agreement: at least 21 days to consider and at least 7 days after signing to revoke. The agreement is unenforceable until the revocation period expires.
- 45 days is the consideration period for a group exit-incentive or termination program, not for an individual waiver. Swapping 21 and 45 is the trap.
- The revocation period is 7 days in both cases. There is no 15-day or 21-day revocation window.
Group program disclosure
For waivers connected to a group exit-incentive or termination program, such as a reduction in force covering 30 employees over 40, OWBPA additionally requires a written disclosure of:
- The decisional unit covered
- The eligibility factors
- The time limits
- The job titles and ages of individuals eligible or selected, and the ages of those in the same job classification or unit not selected
Severance budgets, performance-rating statements and manager attestations are voluntary documents, not the statutory disclosure.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
An unlawful compensation practice occurs each time compensation is paid under a discriminatory decision. So each paycheck restarts the 180/300-day charge period, and back pay is limited to two years preceding the charge.
- The pre-Ledbetter rule the Act overturned ran the clock from the original decision, time-barring a six-year-old starting-salary decision.
- Ledbetter is not a discovery rule keyed to when the employee learned of the disparity, and it keeps the two-year cap.