NT Lakis attorneys have filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in an important case that addresses the charge filing requirements under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. More specifically, the Justices will determine whether filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a mandatory requirement that a plaintiff must fulfill before being allowed to sue, or whether it is merely a waivable procedural rule.
Our brief in Fort Bend County v. Davis, joined by the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Retail Federation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argues that Title VII clearly requires a plaintiff to file a charge – in other words, exhaust her or his administrative remedies – before bringing a Title VII lawsuit.
Indeed, we point out that the EEOC itself is required to satisfy a number of administrative responsibilities tied to a charge before the agency can bring a lawsuit. Because the EEOC cannot fulfill those duties in the absence of a charge, we argue that Congress clearly intended the charge filing requirement to be a mandatory prerequisite to bringing suit.
A copy of our brief is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.