Cruz v. Board of Education

537 F. Supp. 292, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11596, 31 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1157
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedApril 5, 1982
DocketCiv. A. No. 80-K-902
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 537 F. Supp. 292 (Cruz v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cruz v. Board of Education, 537 F. Supp. 292, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11596, 31 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1157 (D. Colo. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

KANE, District Judge.

This is an action for declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, alleging employment discrimination on the basis of national origin. This court has jurisdiction to hear these claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3), 28 U.S.C. § 1337, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331(a), respectively.

The plaintiffs, all of whom are of hispanic ancestry, claim that the defendants have engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination since 1974. Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants repeatedly refused to hire them for teaching positions for which they were otherwise qualified and instead hired lesser qualified white persons. This case is now before me on the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment pursuant to rule 56(b), F.R. Civ.P. The defendants advance three arguments in support of their motion: (1) All of the plaintiffs’ claims filed beyond either the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s (hereinafter “CCRC”) 180-day limitations period or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (hereinafter “EEOC”) extended 300-day limitations period, are time-barred; (2) This court lacks jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ claims that are not specifically within the scope of their charges before the EEOC; and (3) The plaintiffs’ claims that the defendants discriminated against them by hiring Darlene Gill, a white person with lesser qualifications, for the position of bilingual supervisor, fail to state [294]*294claims upon which relief may be granted since the named defendants did not make that employment decision.

For the reasons expressed in this opinion, the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.

I. TIMELINESS OF ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINTS

When congress enacted Title VII it included certain mandatory administrative procedures with distinct time limitations for bringing employment discrimination claims. Among those procedures is the requirement of timely filing of charges before the EEOC as a prerequisite to maintaining a Title VII action in federal district court. Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 47, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1019, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974); Romero v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 615 F.2d 1303, 1311 (10th Cir. 1980). 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) provides that:

A charge under this section shall be filed within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred and notice of the charge (including the date, place and circumstances of the alleged unlawful employment practice) shall be served upon the person against whom such charge is made within ten days thereafter, except that in a case of an unlawful employment practice with respect to which the person aggrieved has initially instituted proceedings with a State or local agency with authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, such charge shall be filed by or on behalf of the person aggrieved within three hundred days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred, or within thirty days after receiving notice that the State or local agency has terminated the proceedings under the State or local law, whichever is earlier, and a copy of such charge shall be filed by the Commission with the State or local agency.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c) further provides that:

In the case of an alleged unlawful employment practice occurring in a State, or political subdivision of a State, which has a State or local law prohibiting the unlawful employment practice alleged and establishing or authorizing a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, no charge may be filed under subsection (b) of this section by the person aggrieved before the expiration of sixty days after proceedings have been commenced under the State or local law, unless such proceedings have been earlier terminated, provided that such sixty-day period shall be extended to one hundred and twenty days during the first year after the effective date of such State or local law. If any requirement for the commencement of such proceedings is imposed by a State or local authority other than a requirement of the filing of a written and signed statement of the facts upon which the proceeding is based, the proceeding shall be deemed to have been commenced for the purposes of this subsection at the time such statement is sent by registered mail to the appropriate State or local authority.

These two statutory provisions together require that parties in states with statutory and administrative mechanisms for processing employment discrimination claims first seek relief through the state agencies. In such states, commonly referred to as “deferral” states, see Hall v. Bd. County Com’rs of Frederick County, 509 F.Supp. 841, 844 (D.Md.1981), an aggrieved party may not file a charge with the EEOC until 60 days after proceedings are commenced in the state unless such proceedings have been earlier terminated. Further, the extended 300-day filing or limitation period for filing charges before the EEOC is applicable in all deferral states. Colorado is such a deferral state, having its own fair employment practices agency, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (“CCRC”). See C.R.S. Title 24, Art. 34 (1973) as amended.

[295]*295These statutory provisions raise several questions about the interaction of the state and federal enforcement schemes. Recognizing that lay persons might be confused by the availability of dual enforcement mechanisms, the EEOC developed a procedure for referring complaints to state agencies while simultaneously holding them in “suspended animation” — ready to be formally filed as charges at the close of either the state proceedings or the 60-day period mandated by § 2000e-5(c). The Supreme Court specifically approved this procedure in Love v. Pullman, 404 U.S. 522, 92 S.Ct. 616, 30 L.Ed.2d 679 (1972), over objections that it constituted a manipulation of the filing date not sanctioned by the applicable state statute or regulations. See E.E.O.C. v. Delaware Trust Co., 416 F.Supp.

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Related

Cruz v. BD. OF ED. FOR CITY OF TRINIDAD SCH. DIST.
537 F. Supp. 292 (D. Colorado, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
537 F. Supp. 292, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11596, 31 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cruz-v-board-of-education-cod-1982.