Discrimination claims die on the calendar more often than on the merits. Three clocks matter, and pay discrimination runs on a clock of its own.
The charge clock: 180 against 300
- A charge must be filed with the EEOC within 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place. That is the default.
- The deadline extends to 300 calendar days only where a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting employment discrimination on the same basis. For ADEA charges, only a state law or agency, not a local one, triggers the extension.
Treating 300 days as the default is a listed common error. Employer size does not change the clock, and neither does EEOC enforcement activity.
Work the count the way the explanation does. Demotion March 1, 2026; charge filed December 20, 2026. March 1 to December 1 is 31+30+31+30+31+31+30+31+30 = 275 days. December 1 to December 20 adds 19. Total 294 days. In a deferral state the limit is 300, so 294 is timely. Under the 180-day default it would not be.
The suit clock: 90 days
- Title VII, ADA, and GINA: once you receive a Notice of Right to Sue, suit must be filed within 90 days.
- ADEA: suit may be filed any time 60 days after filing a charge, but no later than 90 days after the EEOC gives notice it has completed action.
The 90-day right-to-sue window is not the 180-day charge deadline. Candidates trade these two constantly.
Ledbetter
Under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, an unlawful compensation practice occurs when a discriminatory decision is adopted, when an individual becomes subject to it, and each time compensation is paid. Each paycheck restarts the 180 or 300-day period. Back pay is limited to two years before the charge.
So a six-year-old salary decision still being paid out is not time-barred; the one-time-act theory is the refuted pre-Ledbetter rule. Correcting the pay now both stops the recurring violation and caps exposure.