Start with the event that needs a decision—not a legal label.

If the central event is different treatment tied to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or another covered basis, begin with the employment-discrimination guide. If the worker first complained, requested an accommodation, used leave, joined coworkers, reported safety, or pursued benefits and then experienced a negative response, use the retaliation guide to identify the particular law that may protect the activity.

If the immediate problem is medical or family leave, use the Family and Medical Leave Act guide to test employer coverage, employee eligibility, qualifying reason, notice, certification, designation, restoration, and retaliation. If a separation agreement is waiting for signature, prioritize the severance checklist because release, waiver, revocation, benefit, confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation, and return-of-property terms can change the worker's options.

If employment has ended, use the wrongful-termination guide to separate the at-will starting rule from discrimination, retaliation, statutory, contract, and narrow Oklahoma public-policy theories. If the worker is still assembling facts, begin with the documentation guide. The directory does not rank claims or promise that any route applies.

Collect pay statements, tax forms, offer and termination letters, benefits notices, handbook acknowledgments, staffing records, union documents, and government appointment papers. Identify who hired, paid, scheduled, supervised, evaluated, disciplined, granted leave, handled accommodation, and made the challenged decision. Keep a staffing agency, host, parent, subsidiary, franchisee, union, benefit administrator, and contractor separate until facts support a relationship.

Mark whether the employer is private, state or local, federal, tribal, or another public or sovereign entity. Government or tribal affiliation may change the governing law, administrative process, immunity, waiver, exhaustion, remedy, and forum. A worksite address, funding source, vendor relationship, or nearby institution does not settle those questions.

Worker status also matters. Employee, applicant, former employee, independent contractor, volunteer, supervisor, union member, federal employee, and jointly employed worker are not interchangeable labels. Use the actual duties, control, pay, documents, and statute rather than accepting a label printed on one form as conclusive.

An internal report may ask the employer to correct harassment, discrimination, retaliation, leave administration, pay, or policy problems. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission receives charges under federal discrimination statutes for covered respondents. The Oklahoma Office of Civil Rights Enforcement administers the state anti-discrimination complaint process. Federal employees use the employing agency's Equal Employment Opportunity system.

The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division administers the Family and Medical Leave Act for covered workers and other wage-and-hour laws. Occupational Safety and Health Administration routes distinguish safety complaints from whistleblower retaliation complaints. The National Labor Relations Board addresses protected concerted and union-related activity. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission's workplace-complaint page may help route issues to state and federal agencies. A referral page is not proof that a claim was filed with the agency that controls it.

Contract, arbitration, union grievance, unemployment, workers' compensation, benefit, professional-license, public-employment, and court procedures can run alongside an agency filing. Preserve each document and status separately. Never compress ‘submitted,’ ‘pending,’ ‘closed,’ ‘right to sue,’ or ‘appeal’ into ‘handled.’

Build a chronology that separates the triggering request or complaint, employer knowledge, challenged decision, stated reason, and later effects. Preserve documents already lawfully possessed, such as offer and termination papers, pay and benefit notices, performance records delivered to the worker, authorized communications, leave or accommodation correspondence, and agency confirmations. List employer-controlled sources and custodians rather than bypassing access controls.

Create a decisionmaker table. For each important event, identify who proposed, approved, communicated, implemented, and reviewed it. Record when each person learned of the worker's protected status, request, complaint, leave, group action, or safety report. This helps separate suspicious sequence from proof of causation.

Include adverse facts. Prior discipline, attendance records, performance concerns, policy violations, or inconsistent statements can affect the analysis. A directory that routes only favorable facts produces weak decisions. The goal is a reliable intake record, not a one-sided online case evaluation.

Record the date of each discipline, pay decision, denial, leave request, accommodation response, report, suspension, termination, severance delivery, signature, attempted revocation, agency filing, agency closure, and receipt of a later notice. Preserve the envelope, portal timestamp, and email header when receipt matters. Use the earliest plausible date for urgent review until current authority confirms otherwise.

Do not assume a continuing internal investigation, grievance, mediation, unemployment claim, severance negotiation, records request, or agency inquiry pauses another period. Federal employees face a distinct counseling sequence. Safety whistleblower, discrimination, leave, labor, state-law, contract, and court paths may use different triggers and limits.

If the worker cannot identify the correct process, contact the relevant agency or counsel promptly while preserving proof of the inquiry. Asking a question may not itself file the required document. Confirm the filing's name, signature, respondent, acceptance date, case or charge number, and any next response date.

A worker seeking to remain employed may need a carefully framed accommodation, leave, complaint, or policy request. A worker facing imminent discipline may need to answer factual errors while avoiding unnecessary admissions. A worker with a severance deadline may need the agreement reviewed before signing. A separated worker may need to preserve the reason, apply for benefits, protect evidence, and evaluate agency or court paths.

Rank decisions by irreversibility and time sensitivity. Signing a release, missing an agency period, deleting records, taking restricted data, contacting witnesses improperly, posting publicly, or abandoning a leave-certification process can be difficult to undo. Routine information gathering and a neutral chronology are usually more reversible, but even those steps must respect privacy and access limits.

This hub should lead to one route-specific worksheet, not eight generic claims. Pick the guide that addresses the next decision, complete its evidence questions, and escalate any employer, government, tribal, union, arbitration, deadline, confidentiality, or waiver uncertainty for legal review.