Termination Notice After an EEOC Charge: State the Job Reason
In the 11th Circuit, an EEOC charge is protected participation, so write the termination notice around an independent job reason, not the charge.
If you are drafting a termination or discipline notice for an employee who has filed an EEOC charge, state the independent job reason and leave the charge out. The panel in Ellis relied on the 1969 Eleventh Circuit precedent Pettway v. The court leaned on the 1969 Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co. ruling to confirm that federal anti-retaliation rules shield EEOC participants, even if the employer disputed the charge's accuracy.
The truthfulness of the EEOC charge’s allegations is irrelevant to the protection. A termination letter that mentions the charge can become the key document in a retaliation case.
The Hillsborough notice shows why the wording matters
Jeremy Ellis filed a formal charge with the EEOC and the Florida Commission on Human Relations in December 2021, alleging disability and religious discrimination. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office terminated Ellis in August 2022, and its Notice of Discipline said his EEOC filing publicly criticized the agency and that he knowingly used false information. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a $250,000 jury verdict for former Hillsborough County detention deputy Jeremy Ellis and rejected the Sheriff’s effort to overturn the trial outcome. The appellate panel of Kevin Newsom, Andrew Brasher, and Frank Hull upheld the lower court's ruling and rejected the Sheriff's post-trial requests. After U.S. When U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle included prejudgment interest in May 2025, the final federal award against Sheriff Chad Chronister's office, in his official role, reached $258,950.
Keep the notice to the job reason
For the notice, name the independent job-related reason, omit any reference to the EEOC charge, and avoid calling the charge false, critical, or retaliatory. The law requires the letter to avoid relying on the protected charge. The rest is good practice: a clean file, aligned witnesses, and counsel review.
Ask whether the same decision would be supported if the employee had never filed the charge. If the answer depends on the charge, the reason is not independent. You are done when you can point to documented performance, conduct, attendance, or business need that would support the same decision without referencing the protected activity.
Use the facts that the job required, not the facts that the dispute produced. The finished letter names the position, effective date, specific job-related facts, and any final pay or benefits information required by policy or law. It avoids adjectives that sound like a response to the employee’s complaint. Delete any sentence that mentions the filing, its allegations, the investigation, the employee’s statements, or the employee’s criticism of the agency.
The usual mistake is to add a defensive line about the charge being false or the employee being critical. That line invites a retaliation claim. The notice should read as if the charge did not exist, while the file shows the job reason is real.
Check the timing language. Retaliation claims often rely on closeness between protected activity and adverse action. The letter should not say the decision follows the filing, responds to the filing, or is needed because of the filing. State the effective date and the job-related facts, without explaining the decision as a reaction to the employee’s protected conduct.
The file should match the notice
Keep the charge in a separate section of the personnel file, if your policy requires it, and keep the termination memo focused on the job reason. The final memo lists the job reason, the decision-maker, the date, and the documents supporting the reason, without comparing the charge to the decision.
Make sure the manager who drafts the notice, the supervisor who approves it, and the HR reviewer all describe the same job reason. The record should show that the interview notes, the termination memo, and the letter use the same documented facts, and none of them treats the charge as a factor.
Give counsel the notice, the supporting file, and the timeline of the decision. Counsel should confirm that the notice states a legitimate, documented reason and does not rely on the charge, its timing, or the employee’s protected activity. If counsel asks for a rewrite, treat that as the final draft, not a suggestion.