Employment Discrimination Demand Letter - North Dakota

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION DEMAND LETTER — NORTH DAKOTA

This packet is a settlement-demand framework. It is not the Department's prescribed complaint form, an EEOC charge, or a court filing. Do not assume that sending it files, tolls, or extends any deadline.

1. COVERAGE AND ROUTE GATE

1.1 Parties and Workplace

N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-02(8) does not say merely “one employee.” For the first statutory branch, the respondent must employ one or more employees for more than one quarter of the year; the second branch concerns employees whose services are partially or wholly performed in North Dakota. Apply the complete definition to the actual respondent.

Federal employees, tribal employers, elected officials and political staff, interstate workplaces, public entities, and respondents asserting immunity or arbitration require separate route analysis.

1.2 North Dakota Route Selection

Select one route only after applying all of N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-19:

☐ Department complaint route selected.

☐ Direct North Dakota district-court route selected.

☐ A collective-bargaining, employment-contract, or public-employee process may trigger § 14-02.4-19(5); counsel has completed that analysis.

☐ Federal claim route selected separately.

The NDHRA does not impose the old form's blanket administrative-exhaustion rule. A Department complaint and a direct district-court action are alternative routes except where § 14-02.4-19 limits or modifies the choice. Electing court requires dismissal of a pending Department action based on the same alleged acts.

2. NORTH DAKOTA CLAIM SELECTION

2.1 Protected Basis

Select only a basis supported by current law and evidence:

☐ Race: [DETAIL]

☐ Color: [DETAIL]

☐ Religion: [DETAIL]

☐ Sex, including pregnancy, childbirth, or a related disability as applicable: [DETAIL]

☐ National origin: [DETAIL]

☐ Age — claimant was at least 40: [DETAIL]

☐ Physical or mental disability: [DETAIL]

☐ Status with respect to marriage: [DETAIL]

☐ Status with respect to public assistance: [DETAIL]

☐ Lawful activity off the employer's premises during nonworking hours that was not in direct conflict with the employer's essential business-related interests: [DETAIL]

Do not add a protected-class label merely because it appears in another state's law or a federal statute. If the Department's current intake presents a category differently from the NDHRA text, identify the exact state and federal theory separately.

2.2 Challenged Conduct

For an accommodation theory, identify the essential functions, requested accommodation, alternatives discussed, response, operational effect, health or safety issue, business necessity, financial resources, and claimed undue hardship.

2.3 Factual Chronology

Claimant's qualifications and performance: [DETAIL].

Respondent's stated reason: [DETAIL].

Facts bearing on whether the selected basis or protected activity affected the decision:

• decision-maker statements: [DETAIL];
• comparator or workforce evidence: [DETAIL];
• timing and sequence: [DETAIL];
• departures from policy or changing explanations: [DETAIL];
• internal report, accommodation request, or protected participation: [DETAIL]; and
• other direct or circumstantial evidence: [DETAIL].

3. OPTIONAL FEDERAL CLAIM MODULES

No federal claim is asserted merely because it appears here. Select and complete a module only after separate respondent coverage, employee-count, claimant-status, immunity, exhaustion, notice, deadline, causation, and remedy review.

3.1 Title VII

☐ Claim selected under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) for race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Selected basis and challenged compensation, term, condition, privilege, hiring, or discharge decision: [DETAIL].

3.2 Age Discrimination in Employment Act

☐ ADEA claim selected under 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1), and claimant was at least 40 under § 631(a).

Age, comparator, decision, employer coverage, and causation facts: [DETAIL].

3.3 Americans with Disabilities Act — Title I

☐ ADA accommodation claim selected under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A).

Qualification, essential functions, disability, accommodation request, alternatives, response, and claimed undue hardship: [DETAIL].

4. DEADLINE AND FILING CONTROL

4.1 North Dakota Human Rights Act

For an employment claim, N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-19(2) generally permits a Department complaint or district-court action within 300 days of the alleged act of wrongdoing. The Department's current employment page likewise instructs a person filing an employment charge to file no later than 300 days from the last date of harm. A demand letter is not the prescribed Department complaint.

If the Department complaint was filed first, subsection (3) generally measures the district-court period from dismissal or a written probable-cause determination. Subsection (5) separately governs specified contractual, collective-bargaining, and public-employee processes and includes additional completion, hearing-request, and timing rules. Do not reduce the section to “90 days after right-to-sue.”

4.2 Optional Title VII Route

The 300-day federal period in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1) applies only when that subsection's deferral conditions are satisfied. Section 2000e-5(f)(1) uses a separate 90-day period after the statutory federal notice. Do not apply these Title VII statements automatically to an ADEA or ADA claim.

5. REMEDY AND SETTLEMENT VALUATION

N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-20 authorizes injunctions, equitable relief, and backpay limited to no more than two years from the filing of a minimally sufficient complaint. Interim earnings or amounts earnable with reasonable diligence reduce backpay. A court may grant a prevailing party reasonable attorney fees as part of costs. The Department and an administrative hearing officer may not award compensatory or punitive damages under the NDHRA.

Do not state that damages are uncapped or that compensatory, punitive, liquidated, or emotional-distress damages are available. Identify the exact claim and forum authorizing each requested component before including it.

Mitigation efforts and interim earnings: [DETAIL].

6. DEMAND LETTER

[ATTORNEY / FIRM LETTERHEAD]

By [TRACKED MAIL / AGREED EMAIL / OTHER METHOD]

Date: [__/__/____]

[EMPLOYER OR COUNSEL NAME]

[COMPANY LEGAL NAME]

[ADDRESS]

Re: [CLAIMANT NAME] — Employment Discrimination Settlement Demand

Dear [NAME]:

Our office represents [CLAIMANT NAME] concerning the employment actions described below. This letter proposes a negotiated resolution; it does not replace any agency charge, statutory notice, grievance, appeal, or court filing.

6.1 Parties and Coverage

[IDENTIFY CLAIMANT, RESPONDENT, WORKPLACE, EMPLOYMENT DATES, POSITION, AND FACTS SUPPORTING THE SELECTED STATUTORY ROUTE.]

6.2 Challenged Conduct

[STATE THE SELECTED PROTECTED BASIS, ADVERSE OR UNEQUAL TREATMENT, ACCOMMODATION THEORY, OR RETALIATION THEORY. IDENTIFY DATES, DECISION MAKERS, EVIDENCE, AND RESPONDENT'S STATED REASON.]

6.3 Selected Claims

[IDENTIFY EACH ACTUALLY SELECTED NORTH DAKOTA OR FEDERAL CLAIM BY EXACT CURRENT SECTION. DO NOT LIST UNUSED STATUTES.]

6.4 Harm and Calculation

[STATE THE ECONOMIC AND NONMONETARY EFFECTS, MITIGATION, INTERIM EARNINGS, AND THE ATTACHED CLAIM-SPECIFIC CALCULATION.]

6.5 Settlement Proposal

To resolve the selected claims, claimant proposes:

1. Payment of $[AMOUNT], allocated only as counsel determines after tax and claim analysis;
2. [REINSTATEMENT / NEUTRAL REFERENCE / RECORD CORRECTION / ACCOMMODATION / POLICY TERM];
3. A release limited to [DEFINED CLAIMS, PARTIES, AND PERIOD];
4. [CONFIDENTIALITY / NONDISPARAGEMENT / NO-ADMISSION TERMS, IF LAWFUL AND DESIRED]; and
5. Execution and performance by [DATE / MILESTONE].

This proposal remains open until [TIME] on [__/__/____], unless withdrawn earlier in writing. The response date is a settlement term only; it does not alter any statutory or procedural deadline.

Please direct communications to [ATTORNEY / CONTACT INFORMATION].

Sincerely,

[ATTORNEY NAME]

[FIRM / NORTH DAKOTA BAR ID / CONTACT]

7. PRE-SEND REVIEW

☐ Confirm the respondent's exact legal identity, type, location, employee facts, and any immunity or special route.

☐ Confirm every selected protected basis and claim element under current law.

☐ Confirm all Department, EEOC, internal-process, appeal, arbitration, and court dates independently.

☐ Confirm whether N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-19(5) applies.

☐ Use the Department's current prescribed complaint process if an administrative filing is intended.

☐ Remove all unused claim modules, citations, remedies, and factual placeholders.

☐ Reconcile the demand amount with mitigation, interim earnings, tax treatment, liens, benefits, fees, and claim-specific remedy limits.

☐ Preserve originals, metadata, personnel records, communications, recordings, comparator evidence, and proof of filing and receipt.

8. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• North Dakota Century Code ch. 14-02.4 — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t14c02-4.pdf
• North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights, Employment Discrimination — https://www.nd.gov/labor/human-rights/employment-discrimination
• Current preliminary 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section2000e-2&num=0&edition=prelim
• Current preliminary 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5 — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section2000e-5&num=0&edition=prelim
• Current preliminary 29 U.S.C. § 623 — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section623&num=0&edition=prelim
• Current preliminary 29 U.S.C. § 631 — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section631&num=0&edition=prelim
• Current preliminary 42 U.S.C. § 12112 — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section12112&num=0&edition=prelim

Disclaimer: This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. A qualified attorney licensed in North Dakota must review and customize it and verify current law, coverage, claims, deadlines, remedies, forum, and settlement terms before use.