Wisconsin

Key facts

EEOC filing deadline

300 days (FEPA work-sharing state)

State agency deadline

300 days to ERD

Employer coverage

1 or more employees

State law

Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA)

State court statute of limitations

3 years

Additional protections beyond federal law

• •Sexual orientation
• •Marital status
• •Arrest record (with limitations)
• •Conviction record (with limitations)
• •Military service
• •Lawful use of a product outside work

How it works

Wisconsin has a work-sharing agreement with the EEOC. A charge filed with Wisconsin Equal Rights Division is generally also considered filed with the EEOC ("dual-filed"), and vice versa. You usually only need to file once.

Key notes

Wisconsin's one-employee threshold is broad. The arrest and conviction record protections are notable — employers cannot automatically exclude workers based on conviction records without an individualized assessment of the relationship between the conviction and the job. Wisconsin law explicitly protects sexual orientation and has done so since 1982, making it one of the earliest states to do so.