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The EEOC's rule is that a charge must generally be filed within 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place, and that the 180-day deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting employment discrimination on the same basis. Age discrimination has a narrower extension: it applies only where a state law prohibits age discrimination and a state agency enforces it, not where only a local law does.

Equal Pay Act claims work differently again. The EEOC says the deadline for filing a charge or lawsuit under that Act is two years from the day you received the last discriminatory paycheque, extended to three years for wilful discrimination, and no charge is required first.

Federal employees are on a much shorter clock still: they must contact an agency EEO counsellor within 45 days, extendable only in certain circumstances. The EEOC itself notes that working out how much time you have is complicated, which is a good reason to call early rather than late.

Coverage turns on headcount. The EEOC tells small businesses that with at least one employee they are covered by the law requiring equal pay for equal work between men and women. At 15 to 19 employees, the laws prohibiting discrimination on race, colour, religion, sex including pregnancy, sexual orientation and transgender status, national origin, disability and genetic information apply as well.

At 20 or more employees, protection against age discrimination for workers 40 and older is added. That threshold catches people out: a worker at a company of twelve has no federal age claim, though a state or city ordinance may cover smaller employers and often does.

Wage and hour law is separate and does not use these thresholds. Minimum wage, overtime and classification questions arise under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage law, which is why an unpaid overtime problem and a discrimination problem follow different routes.

At will means an employer can fire for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason. It does not allow firing for an illegal reason, and the list of illegal reasons is longer than most people assume. It includes retaliation for filing a charge, for requesting an accommodation or for reporting conduct a statute protects.

It also does not override other law. The National Labor Relations Board treats employees as having the right to communicate with coworkers about their wages, and with labour organisations, worker centres, the media and the public, in person, by phone, in writing and on social media. That right belongs to non-union employees too, which means a blanket ban on discussing pay is a problem regardless of what a handbook says.

A severance agreement is a contract that buys a release of claims. Before signing, work out what claims are being released, whether any of them have real value, and whether the agreement restricts where you can work or what you can say. Federal law gives older workers a specific consideration and revocation period for releasing age claims, which is one reason those agreements read differently.

Arbitration clauses matter just as much and are often signed years earlier, buried in an onboarding packet. They can send a dispute out of court entirely. An employment lawyer reviewing a severance offer is reviewing the arbitration agreement, the confidentiality terms and any non-compete at the same time, and a few hours of review before signing is far cheaper than litigation about it afterwards.