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Also called: MDHR charge; discrimination charge; verified charge.
A charge filed with the commissioner must be in writing by hand, or electronically with an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury, on a form provided by the commissioner and signed by the charging party. The charge must state the name of the person alleged to have committed an unfair discriminatory practice and set out a summary of the details of the practice complained of.
Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 1. Filing a charge with the commissioner is one of three routes. Subdivision 1 also allows a civil action under § 363A.33, subd. 1, and subd. 3(a) adds a charge with a local commission under § 363A.07, subd. 3 — each of the three must be taken “within one year after the occurrence of the practice.” The two charge routes are an either/or: under § 363A.07, subd. 3, “[t]he exercise of such choice in filing a charge with one agency shall preclude the option of filing the same charge with the other agency.” The person who files is the “charging party,” defined at § 363A.03, subd. 5. The commissioner serves the charge within ten days; the respondent answers within 30. Chapter 363A does not define “charge”: § 363A.03 defines “charging party” at subdivision 5, and § 363A.28, subdivision 1, prescribes the form a charge must take without defining the term.
Where this comes up
Sources checked September 8, 2026. Citations independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.