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United States Supreme Court Redefines Discrimination Filing Deadline

By Keith L. Pryatel

In a highly fractured decision that effectively overturned a $3.5 million jury verdict, the United States Supreme Court recently redefined the statute of limitations deadlines for filing claims of discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber). The Court's decision is so controversial that there already is federal legislation afoot to overturn its ruling.

Lilly Ledbetter was a salaried supervisor at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's Gadsden, Alabama plant, until she retired in 1998. After taking early retirement, Ms. Ledbetter filed a charge of pay discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that several of her supervisors had in the past provided her poor performance evaluations as a result of her female gender. This not only caused Ms. Ledbetter's salary to be artificially low in subsequent years, but also affected her retirement pension, which was predicated on Ms. Ledbetter's highest years of earnings at Goodyear.

An Alabama jury sided with Ms. Ledbetter, ultimately awarding her $3.5 million in damages. The federal appeals court reversed the jury's verdict, finding Ledbetter's discrimination claim was untimely filed and pursued. Ms. Ledbetter then took her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Several other federal appellate courts had already ruled that with the receipt of each alleged discriminatory paycheck, a new statute of limitations begins to run under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act--the federal legislation that proscribes discrimination in employment.

In its decision, the Supreme Court held: "The EEOC charging period is triggered when a discrete unlawful practice takes place. A new violation does not occur, and a new charging period does not commence, upon the occurrence of subsequent non-discriminatory acts that entail adverse effects resulting from the past discrimination." Thus, while Ms. Ledbetter alleged that her past supervisors had purposely provided her poor reviews so as to deflate her salary, none of those decisions were alleged to have occurred within 180 days of the filing of her EEOC charge. According to the Supreme Court, the filing deadlines for charges of discrimination embedded in Title VII "protect employers from the burden of defending claims arising from employment decisions that are long past."

The Court's 5-4 decision has struck a chord with Congress, which has already introduced legislation to overturn it. The so-called Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831) was recently passed by the House Education and Labor Committee along party lines, and would amend Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act to specify that the time limit for filing pay discrimination claims begins to run each time an employee receives a paycheck that manifests discrimination, not just when the employer makes the initial discriminatory pay decision. Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) recently commented that his legislation "would rectify the Supreme Court's decision and provide the justice that reason demands." Whether the legislation will pass the full House, and whether a similar bill will be introduced and pass the Senate remains to be seen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith L. Pryatel, Esq., is a shareholder with the Akron, Ohio, law firm of Kastner Westman & Wilkins, LLC (www.kwwlaborlaw.com). He concentrates his practice on equal employment opportunity litigation, occupational safety and health defense, labor arbitration, public sector matters before the State Employment Relations Board, and appellate practice before the state and federal courts of appeals. Mr. Pryatel can be reached at 330-867-9998 or kpryatel@kwwlaborlaw.com.

Reprinted with permission from the Summer 2007 issue of kwwlaborlaw.communicator, published by Kastner Westman & Wilkins LLC.

riskVue | The webzine for risk management professionals
September 2007