02/27/2008
Court fails to resolve whether filing an initial questionnaire qualifies as filing a charge for ADEA cases
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp, 202-314-2068
Washington, D.C.--The U.S. Supreme Court issued a disappointing decision today that does little to clear up the uncertainty over what paperwork must be filed by an employee with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to initiate an employment discrimination claim.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, like many other federal civil rights laws, requires that an employee must file a "charge" with the EEOC in order to preserve their right to sue their employer for an alleged discriminatory act. In the case decided today, Federal Express v. Holowecki, the court was asked to determine if filing an intake questionnaire with the EEOC constituted a charge for ADEA purposes.
Instead of clearly establishing what qualifies as a charge, the court ruled that in order for an EEOC filing to be treated as a charge, "it must be reasonably construed as a request for the agency to take remedial action to protect the employees' rights or otherwise settle a dispute between the employer and the employee." The court found that in this case, the intake questionnaire submitted by one of the plaintiffs constituted a charge.
"This is an unfortunate decision for small business owners and employees because the confusion over what is technically required to initiate a discrimination claim has not been eliminated," said Elizabeth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation. "To make matters worse, this decision may allow certain filings to be recognized as a charge for ADEA purposes, even though the EEOC may not notify the employer that an employee has initiated a discrimination claim against the employer. An employer's first notice of a discrimination claim should never come in the form of a private lawsuit. This deprives both parties of the opportunity to resolve the dispute informally."
The court's opinion recognizes that the EEOC's regulations are "less than clear," but defers to the agency to simplify these procedures.
"NFIB hopes the EEOC will follow the court's suggestion and clean up their regulations so that both employers and employees can clearly understand what the technical requirements are for when an employee can bring a discrimination claim against their employer," said Milito.
