In EEOC v. Vantage Energy Services, Inc. , No. 19-20541 (5th Cir. April 3, 2020), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of an employee for failing to file a verified charge within the statutory time limits. In so doing, the appeals court ruled that the plaintiff’s “intake questionnaire,” which was timely submitted and had all of the necessary indicia of an EEOC charge, was enough to constitute a timely charge of discrimination.
The employer-petitioner is urging the High Court to take up the case to distinguish that the Court’s earlier ruling in Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki, 552 U.S. 389 (2008), which dealt with what constitutes a valid charge under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), should not extend to the ADA based on textual nuances in the respective statutes.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.