What to do after you get a Right to Sue letter in Texas

What the letter means

The EEOC's notice is usually titled Determination and Notice of Rights. Most often it says the EEOC is ending its investigation without deciding whether the law was broken. That is not a finding that you don't have a case. Many charges end this way, and a court decides your claims on its own.

You can also get a notice because you asked for it. After your charge has been pending 180 days, the EEOC must issue one if you ask in writing.

If the EEOC instead found reasonable cause to believe discrimination happened, it will first try to settle the case with your employer. If that fails, the EEOC may sue on its own or send you a Notice of Right to Sue.

The 90-day deadline

For claims under Title VII, the ADA, and GINA, you generally have 90 days from receiving the notice to file a lawsuit in federal or state court. The deadline is set by law, and courts enforce it strictly: day 91 is too late.

• Portal and email notices. The Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, has long held that the clock runs from when the notice is delivered, not from when you read it. In Smith v. Texas Children's Hospital, Inc., No. 24-20389 (5th Cir. May 7, 2025) (unpublished) (opinion), the court held that the 90 days began when the EEOC emailed the employee and posted the notice to its portal, not five days later when she reset her portal password, and that the password problem was no reason to extend the deadline. Her lawsuit was filed one day late, and she lost.
• Mailed notices. Courts generally presume a mailed notice arrived within a few days of the date on it.
• Age claims. You may sue 60 days after filing your charge without waiting for a notice, and no later than 90 days after the EEOC tells you it has closed the charge.
• Equal Pay Act claims don't need a charge or a notice: 2 years from the unequal pay (3 if willful).

The separate Texas deadline

Claims under Texas law (Chapter 21 of the Labor Code) have their own right-to-sue notice from the Texas Workforce Commission, and the EEOC's notice doesn't replace it. If your complaint isn't resolved within 180 days, the Texas Workforce Commission notifies you in writing, and you can then ask, in writing, for a notice of your right to file a civil action. After that:

• you must sue within 60 days of receiving the Texas notice, and
• no later than two years after you filed your complaint.

Because these clocks run separately from the federal one, it's common to request the Texas notice so both sets of claims can be filed together.

What to do now

1. Write down the date the notice was emailed, posted, or delivered. Count 90 days and put an earlier target date on your calendar.
2. Save everything from your EEOC portal: the notice, your charge, your employer's position statement, and anything you submitted.
3. Ask for your EEOC file if you don't have your employer's response. It shows how your employer explains what happened.
4. Talk to an employment lawyer now, not on day 80. A lawyer needs time to review your case and draft the lawsuit, and many won't take a case with only days left.
5. Look for an arbitration agreement in your onboarding papers or handbook. It may require arbitration instead of court, with its own deadlines.
6. Don't sign a release or severance agreement without advice. It may give up the claims you're about to file.
7. If you can't find a lawyer in time, you can file the lawsuit yourself to protect the deadline. Each of Texas's four federal districts (Southern, Northern, Eastern and Western) has a clerk's office that accepts filings from people without lawyers.

If the EEOC dismissed your charge

You can still sue. The EEOC's decision to close a charge doesn't bind the court, and the lawsuit starts fresh, with your own evidence, witnesses and documents obtained from your employer during the case. What you can't do is wait: once the 90 days pass, the federal claims in that charge are generally lost for good.