Finding Your Deadline
A lawsuit must be filed within 90 days of receiving the notice. Filed means entered on the court's docket — not drafted, mailed or nearly ready.
The rule
Once you receive a Notice of Right to Sue, a lawsuit must be filed within 90 days. The EEOC states plainly that this deadline is set by law and that failing to file in time may prevent you from going forward.
What "filed" means
Filed means the complaint is physically or electronically submitted to the court clerk and entered on the docket. It does not mean mailed to the employer, drafted, reviewed by a lawyer, or nearly ready. Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that a civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court.
What the clock runs from
Receipt — not the date printed on the letter, and not the date the EEOC mailed it. In practice, if the receipt date is ever disputed, courts commonly work from a presumption that a mailed notice arrived a few days after issuance, which the recipient can rebut with evidence of the actual date.
Why documentation matters here
The presumption is a default, not a finding. A postmarked envelope, a portal timestamp, or a dated email is what replaces the default with the real date.
What people misjudge
Ninety days sounds generous. In practice the work inside it — finding a lawyer or deciding to proceed alone, gathering documents, identifying the right court, drafting a complaint — compresses fast. Attorneys who take these cases often decline them when there are only a few weeks left, simply because there isn't time to evaluate the file.
One caution about counting
The federal rules have their own method for computing time periods. If the last day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the period continues to the next day that isn't one.
Sources
EEOC, "Filing a Lawsuit"; 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 3, 6(a).
Red flags to watch for
- Counting from the date printed on the letter rather than the date you received it
- No proof of the receipt date anywhere in your file
- Fewer than 30 days left and no complaint drafted
Next up
Not Every Claim Runs on the Same Clock
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Start AI screeningSources: EEOC.gov, EEOC Field Manual, and federal employment statutes. Informational only — not legal advice.