How to Complete and File an NJ EEOC Discrimination Complaint Form

To file a discrimination complaint in New Jersey, submit a verified complaint to the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) within 180 days of the last discriminatory act, using either the online NJBIAS portal at bias.njcivilrights.gov or a paper filing mailed to one of three regional offices.¹ There is no filing fee. If your claim also falls under federal employment law, the DCR can dual-file it with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). You also have the option of skipping the agency route entirely and filing a lawsuit in Superior Court, and that choice is worth understanding before you commit to either path.

Gather Before You File

The verified complaint has to include the name and address of the person, employer, landlord, or business you are accusing.² Get this right. If the DCR cannot locate and serve the respondent, your complaint stalls before an investigator looks at it. For employers, use the full legal business name (often different from a trade name) along with the street address of the workplace or the location where the discrimination occurred.

You also need to identify the protected basis for your complaint. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) covers a broader set of characteristics than federal law, including race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital and civil union status, affectional or sexual orientation, pregnancy or breastfeeding, sex, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, and liability for military service in the employment context,³ with familial status and source of lawful income added in the housing context.⁴ The NJBIAS portal walks you through selecting the applicable basis, but knowing which category fits saves time.

Before opening the portal, draft a chronological narrative covering:

Dates and locations of each incident. These are checked against the 180-day deadline.
What happened — the specific actions you believe were discriminatory, such as a firing, a denial of housing, a refusal of service, or a hostile comment from a supervisor. Stick to facts rather than conclusions.
Who was involved, including names and titles of the decision-makers.
Names and contact information for witnesses with firsthand knowledge. Providing them early lets the DCR plan interviews before memories fade.

The complaint must also contain a verification, which is your sworn statement that the facts are true. The DCR removed the old notarization requirement, so an electronic signature on an online filing satisfies this.⁵

How to Submit the Complaint

The primary filing method is the NJBIAS online portal at bias.njcivilrights.gov. The portal walks you through entering your narrative, selecting the protected basis, and identifying the respondent. Under the DCR’s rules of practice, an electronically submitted complaint may be signed electronically, and the filing date is the date the DCR receives it.⁵ If you need help with the portal, call 1-833-NJDCR4U (833-653-2748). The DCR provides free interpretation services and free dispute resolution services.⁶

To file by mail or in person, use one of the three regional offices:⁷

Newark (Northern Regional): 31 Clinton Street, 3rd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102
Trenton (Central Regional): 140 East Front Street, 6th Floor, Trenton, NJ 08625
Atlantic City (South Shore Regional): 1601 Atlantic Avenue, 6th Floor, Atlantic City, NJ 08401

Send mailed complaints by certified mail so you have proof of when the DCR received it. The deadline is the deadline, and a tracking receipt is the only reliable way to document a filing date on a tight timeline. For mailed or in-person filings, the official date stamp or an employee’s signature and date notation on the document establishes when the complaint was received.

The 180-Day Deadline

Any complaint filed with the DCR must be submitted within 180 days of the alleged act of discrimination.⁸ If you experienced a pattern of incidents over weeks or months, the clock runs from the date of the last discriminatory act, not the first.

Missing the 180-day window closes the administrative route, but it does not end every option. You can still file a lawsuit in Superior Court, which operates under a separate statute of limitations (generally two years for LAD claims under the state’s general tort limitations period). The two pathways carry different deadlines and different procedures.

DCR Complaint or Superior Court Lawsuit

Under N.J.S.A. 10:5-13, any aggrieved person may file an LAD lawsuit directly in Superior Court without first filing with the DCR.² Court filings carry the right to a jury trial and access to all common law tort remedies in addition to LAD remedies, including compensatory damages and, against private employers, punitive damages. Prevailing plaintiffs can also recover reasonable attorney fees. The trade-off is that litigation generally requires an attorney, costs more, and takes longer than the administrative process, which is free and does not require a lawyer.

Pay attention to the exclusivity rule. While a DCR complaint is pending, you cannot file a separate civil action on the same grievance, and filing a Superior Court lawsuit bars a parallel DCR complaint on the same facts.⁹ After 180 days from filing with the DCR, you can request to transfer the case to the Office of Administrative Law and present it yourself or through an attorney, provided the DCR has not already dismissed the complaint or made a no-probable-cause finding.²

Dual Filing With the EEOC

If your complaint involves employment discrimination covered by federal law — Title VII (race, color, religion, sex, national origin), the ADA (disability), or the ADEA (age 40 and over) — the DCR can dual-file the charge with the EEOC under its worksharing agreement.¹⁰ The federal filing window is normally 180 days, but because New Jersey has its own anti-discrimination law and enforcement agency, that deadline extends to 300 calendar days for federal claims.¹¹ Dual filing preserves your ability to pursue a federal claim later in addition to or instead of the state claim. Note the gap: 180 days for the DCR, 300 days for the EEOC.

What Happens After You File

The DCR confirms jurisdiction, then serves the respondent with a copy of the complaint. The respondent has 20 calendar days after service to file a written answer, a position statement, and any documents the DCR requests,¹² though the DCR Director can extend that window for good cause.¹³

Investigation begins promptly, and both parties are offered the option of early resolution through a trained mediator.¹ Mediation is voluntary and requires both sides to agree. A successful mediation settles the case on mutually agreed terms. If mediation fails or neither party opts in, the investigation continues, often including a fact-finding conference where both sides present evidence to the assigned investigator.

The investigation ends in one of two findings. A finding of no probable cause means the evidence was insufficient and the administrative case closes. A finding of probable cause means the DCR has enough evidence to believe discrimination likely occurred, and the case moves forward. After a probable cause finding, the Attorney General’s office engages in conciliation with the respondent for up to 45 days. If that fails, the case proceeds to a hearing before the DCR Director. For housing complaints only, either party can elect to move the case to Superior Court instead, but the election must be made within 20 days of receiving the probable cause finding.¹⁴

Remedies the DCR Director can order include back pay for lost wages and benefits, reinstatement, and injunctive relief ordering the discriminatory practice to stop. In employment cases, back pay typically covers salary, overtime, bonuses, health benefits, retirement contributions, and paid leave you would have earned between the discriminatory act and the resolution.

Retaliation Is a Separate Claim

Filing a discrimination complaint is a protected activity. Your employer, landlord, or anyone else covered by the LAD cannot fire, demote, evict, or otherwise penalize you for filing the complaint, cooperating with the investigation, or serving as a witness.¹⁵ If retaliation happens, it supports a separate complaint. Retaliation claims sometimes succeed even when the underlying discrimination claim does not, because the legal question shifts from whether discrimination occurred to whether you were punished for reporting it in good faith.

1
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. Know Your Civil Rights for Employment
2
Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 10:5-13 – Filing Complaints, Prosecution, Jury Trial, Remedies, Damages
3
Justia. New Jersey Code 10:5-12 – Unlawful Employment Practices, Discrimination
4
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. New Jersey Law Against Discrimination – NJSA 10:5-1 et seq.
5
New Jersey Office of Attorney General. NJAC 13:4 – Rules of Practice and Procedure
6
New Jersey Office of Attorney General. Learn How to File a Complaint
7
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. Contact DCR
8
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. New Jersey Law Against Discrimination – NJSA 10:5-1 et seq. – Section: 10:5-18
9
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. New Jersey Law Against Discrimination – NJSA 10:5-1 et seq. – Section: 10:5-27
10
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Dual Filing
11
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge
12
Legal Information Institute. New Jersey Administrative Code 13:4-3.1 – Time for Filing Answers and Position Statements
13
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. New Jersey Administrative Code Title 13 Law and Public Safety – Section: Subchapter 3 Answers
14
New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. New Jersey Law Against Discrimination – NJSA 10:5-1 et seq. – Section: 10:5-16
15
New Jersey Office of Attorney General. Discrimination in Employment