Headrick v. Chrysler Corp.

502 F. Supp. 669, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1368, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15425
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedDecember 12, 1980
DocketCiv. A. No. 77-70614
StatusPublished

This text of 502 F. Supp. 669 (Headrick v. Chrysler Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Headrick v. Chrysler Corp., 502 F. Supp. 669, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1368, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15425 (E.D. Mich. 1980).

Opinion

OPINION GRANTING JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANT CHRYSLER CORPORATION

PATRICIA J. BOYLE, District Judge.

Plaintiff brought the present action under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., claiming that Defendant unlawfully discriminated against her because of her sex. Plaintiff alleges that since 1969 Defendant unlawfully refused to promote her on several occasions, harassed her, and retaliated against her for complaining of discrimination. Plaintiff seeks lost back pay and front pay as the result of a disabling psychological condition allegedly resulting from the discrimination.

The first issue presented by this case is whether the Court has proper jurisdiction. Defendant urges that Plaintiff failed to meet the jurisdictional filing requisites of Title VII and therefore cannot pursue her claim in this forum. Specifically, Defendant’s contention is that Plaintiff’s complaints of sex discrimination and the resultant failure to promote relate to a time period prior to 300 days before any Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint was filed. Further, Defendant contends that the failure of the Plaintiff to make a specific filing with the state agency bars consideration of any claims since the Defendant contends that filing with the state agency is a prerequisite to filing with the EEOC.

Plaintiff answers that she has met the jurisdictional standards, contending that the violation alleged is a continuing one and therefore can sustain the charge under consideration in the instant case. With respect to the question of state filing and deferral to the state agency, Plaintiff stresses that a state charge was pending when the EEOC complaint was filed.

As shall be addressed in more detail subsequently, the factual circumstances underlying this case are complicated. For purposes of this initial discussion of jurisdiction, it is sufficient to state the following conclusions of fact which will govern only with respect to the question of jurisdiction. Plaintiff filed a complaint with the state civil rights agency in 1969, and the complaint was pending in 1972 and for several years thereafter. Plaintiff subsequently filed a complaint with the EEOC. Though there is some dispute as to the time at which the complaint was actually filed, the latest date is September 5, 1972, the date a formal charge was received by the EEOC. Plaintiff urges that the date of receipt of her initial letter to the EEOC, August 3, 1972, should be the operative date for purposes of filing. The Court, at an earlier point in this litigation, declined to resolve which date should govern for filing purposes and, in light of the result here reached, it remains unnecessary to enter the thicket of cases which attempt to resolve when an informal letter can be treated as an EEOC “filing” for purposes of Title VII.

Returning, now, to the factual framework within which the jurisdictional issue must be considered, Plaintiff was recommended for a promotion on October 18, 1971. That promotion was not approved, though the recommendation remained in effect. Plaintiff alleges that as late as March of 1972 a male was promoted to a position for which she was qualified (Richard Mara, promoted to Wage Administrator). Plaintiff alleges that several other males were promoted to jobs for which she was qualified during the period between her recommendation for promotion and the promotion of Mara.

Turning to a consideration of the applicable law, the initial inquiry is whether Plaintiff is entitled to pursue claims arising up to 300 days prior to her EEOC filing or if she is limited to claims arising within 180 days of the EEOC filing. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e). Plaintiff contends that attention to these deadlines is immaterial since she alleges a continuing violation. Again, because characterization of the allegations in [671]*671the instant case as a continuing violation is not necessary to exercise of jurisdiction, it is unnecessary to resolve that issue. It is sufficient for present purposes simply to note that a promotion claim appears to be relatively finite in nature. Returning then to the distinction between the 180--and 300-day limitation periods, the statute provides that in deferral states the 300-day period can be invoked. Defendant, however, says that Plaintiff failed to avail herself of review of her claim by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and thereby precluded herself from utilizing the 300-day period.

In Mohasco Corp. v. Silver, 447 U.S. 807, 100 S.Ct. 2486, 65 L.Ed.2d 532 (1980), the Supreme Court addressed a situation in which a plaintiff has filed with the EEOC in a deferral state on the 291st day after the complained of event. The conclusion was that since deferral to the state agency for a 60-day period was mandatory, there could be no “filing” in the statutory sense until 60 days after the EEOC filing, or 351 days after the complained of event. Since “filing” is required within 300 days, the Court concluded that the trial court properly ruled it was without jurisdiction. Essentially, the Court said that in a deferral state the complainant must file with the EEOC by the 240th day in order that sufficient deferral to the state agency can be had. Implicit in this analysis is the recognition of the EEOC’s policy of routinely referring a claim to the state agency in order that the complainant will be in compliance with the deferral policy. See 29 C.F.R. § 1601.13.

In the instant case Plaintiff had a pending state agency claim when she filed the EEOC claim. Although the complex factual allegations make it difficult to detect exactly what extent of overlap exists between the EEOC claim and the state claim as it was updated by the Plaintiff through correspondence with the state agency, it can be said with certainty that the same kinds of complaints underlie both actions with the administrative agencies. There is apparently .no record of a deferral by the EEOC to the state agency in connection with Plaintiff’s September 5, 1972, (or, recalling the reservation of this issue, August 3, 1972) filing with the EEOC. Given the EEOC policy alluded to above, the absence of a specific deferral suggests that the EEOC understood that the state agency did have the same, or substantially the same, issues before it and that the issues had been pending before the state agency for at least sixty days. Furthermore, even if this assumption cannot be taken from the conduct of the EEOC, the Court cannot conceive that the Defendant in a case like that at bar could prevail on the contention that a previous filing with the state agency, encompassing issues that would envelop the subsequent promotion claims that were the foundation of the EEOC complaint, is insufficient to meet the demands of deferral to the state agency. Every policy underlying that statutory deferral provision is satisfied.

Thus, because the EEOC apparently believed adequate deferral had occurred and because it appears that deferral had in fact occurred by reason of the earlier claim filed and pending with the state agency, which claim reasonably would be read to include the subsequent specific allegations made in the EEOC complaint, it is concluded that the EEOC considered a properly filed complaint of Plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
502 F. Supp. 669, 25 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1368, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/headrick-v-chrysler-corp-mied-1980.