Anderson v. Unisys Corp.
| Decision Date | 14 February 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-1363,94-1363 |
| Citation | 47 F.3d 302 |
| Parties | 67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 317 Richard ANDERSON; Robert Eggan; Carl Englehorn; Norris Nielsen; Timothy Wandersee; Donald Woods; Peter Lowry, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNISYS CORPORATION, doing business as Remington Rand Univac, doing business as Sperry Univac, doing business as Sperry, doing business as Unisys, doing business as Paramax Systems, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Douglas P. Kempf, Bloomington, MN, argued, for appellant.
Thomas M. Sipkins, Minneapolis, MN, argued (Joseph G. Schmitt, on the brief), for appellee.
Before McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge, LAY, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.
Richard Anderson commenced this action against Unisys Corporation ("Unisys") for age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") and state anti-discrimination statutes. Several other former Unisys employees later joined the suit. The district court dismissed the state and federal claims of all the plaintiffs, except Anderson and Nielsen, for failure to comply with the statute of limitations. It then dismissed Anderson and Nielsen's state claims. Finally, it granted Unisys's motion for summary judgment on the federal claims of Anderson and Nielsen, finding they had failed to timely file an administrative charge and that there was no basis on which to equitably toll the filing deadline. We reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand for further proceedings.
Unisys laid off Anderson 1 and several other employees in the company's Software Engineering Division on April 2, 1990. 2 Anderson, who was forty-nine years old when he was laid off, filed administrative age discrimination charges with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights ("MDHR") and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") on March 25, 1991. 3 Nielsen never filed a charge with the MDHR or the EEOC. The other discharged employees retained counsel and also eventually filed charges with the MDHR. 4
Anderson filed a pro se complaint in federal district court on February 10, 1992. 5 This complaint was never served on Unisys. All other plaintiffs, with the exception of Nielsen, consulted an attorney and decided not to pursue an action against Unisys, allowing the statute of limitations to run on their federal and state claims.
On June 9, 1992, with the assistance of counsel, Anderson filed an amended complaint that was served on Unisys. In his second complaint, he alleged that the other employees also had been terminated in violation of the ADEA and state law. He sought certification as a class action under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b) (1988). 6
On March 25, 1993, the district court ruled that class certification was not warranted, but stated it would permit the other plaintiffs to join as individual parties. 7 The court also addressed Unisys's argument that Anderson's ADEA action was barred for failure to file a timely administrative charge with the EEOC. Anderson claimed that the administrative filing period should be equitably tolled because he had been misled by Unisys and the MDHR, or in the alternative, because Unisys had failed to post a notice of employees' rights under the ADEA in an accessible location as required by law. 8
In August 1993, Unisys filed a motion to dismiss all plaintiffs, except Anderson and Nielsen, because they had received right-to-sue letters from the EEOC and MDHR, but failed to file suit within the federal and state statutes of limitations after consulting an attorney and making a deliberate decision not to sue. The court granted the motion and dismissed their claims. The court also dismissed the state claims of Anderson and Nielsen for failure to commence suit within the time allowed under the state statutes of limitations.
These rulings left only Anderson and Nielsen's federal claims viable. The district court initially denied Unisys's motion for summary judgment on those claims, finding a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the administrative filing period should be equitably tolled because Unisys had failed to adequately post notice of employee rights under the ADEA. On December 1, 1993, however, Unisys asked the court to reconsider its denial of summary judgment based on newly discovered evidence that it had posted notice of employees' rights under the ADEA in the very building where Anderson worked. 9 In late December 1993, the court granted Unisys's motion for reconsideration based on that evidence and entered summary judgment in its favor. Anderson and his fellow plaintiffs appeal the dismissal of the federal claims of all plaintiffs except Anderson and Nielsen, the dismissal of all state claims, and the adverse entry of summary judgment on the remaining federal claims.
It is undisputed that Anderson failed to file a charge with the EEOC 300 days after April 2, 1990, the date he was notified of his discharge. The administrative deadline is not a jurisdictional limitation however, but operates in the nature of a statute of limitations and is subject to equitable tolling and estoppel. See Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 1132, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982) (); Heideman v. P.F.L., Inc., 904 F.2d 1262, 1265 (8th Cir.1990) (), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1026, 111 S.Ct. 676, 112 L.Ed.2d 668 (1991); DeBrunner v. Midway Equip. Co., 803 F.2d 950, 952 (8th Cir.1986) (). Anderson offers several alternative arguments for tolling the 300-day EEOC administrative filing period. Because we find his claim that the letter he received from the MDHR was misleading sufficient to justify equitably tolling the filing period, we need not address the remainder of his arguments.
Anderson first contacted the MDHR about the possibility of filing an administrative charge in the fall of 1990. The first letter he received from the MDHR stated that he had one year from the date of the discriminatory action to file an administrative discrimination charge with the MDHR and that if the "charge alleges a violation of the federal laws ... the Department will also file it with the [EEOC]...." The form made no mention of the fact that the administrative filing deadline with the EEOC was 300 days rather than one year. Anderson claims this letter led him to believe that the federal and state deadlines were the same, one year from the date of the discriminatory action.
The district court found that representations made by the MDHR are insufficient as a matter of law to equitably toll the administrative filing period because this Court has previously held that "[e]quitable tolling arises upon some positive misconduct by the party against whom it is asserted." 10 Heideman, 904 F.2d at 1266 (quoting DeBrunner, 803 F.2d at 952) (emphasis added); Kriegesmann v. Barry-Wehmiller Co., 739 F.2d 357, 359 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1036, 105 S.Ct. 512, 83 L.Ed.2d 402 (1984); see also Miller v. Runyon, 32 F.3d 386, 390 (8th Cir.1994) (). We feel the district court's reliance on this language, although understandable, fails to read this statement in the limited context of the facts presented. In each of the cases using that language, the plaintiff claimed the employer had failed to post information about employees' rights under civil rights statutes. Equitable tolling is permissible in other situations as well. In Baldwin County Welcome Center v. Brown, 466 U.S. 147, 151, 104 S.Ct. 1723, 1725-26, 80 L.Ed.2d 196 (1984), the Supreme Court outlined several circumstances that may justify equitable tolling of a limitations period. These include cases:
in which a claimant has received inadequate notice ...; or where a motion for appointment of counsel is pending ...; or where the court has led the plaintiff to believe that she had done everything required of her.... [or] where affirmative misconduct on the part of a defendant lulled the plaintiff into inaction.
Id. (citations omitted).
It is clear that equitable tolling is premised on the plaintiff's excusable neglect, which may or may not be attributable to the defendant. 11 Other circuits, as well as our own, have held that when an administrative agency misleads a complainant, particularly one who is without the benefit of counsel, equitable tolling may be justified. 12 See, e.g., Warren v. Department of the Army, 867 F.2d 1156, 1160-61 (8th Cir.1989) (); Early v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co., 959 F.2d 75, 81 (7th Cir.1992) (); Blumberg v. HCA Management Co., 848 F.2d 642, 644 (5th Cir.1988) (), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1007, 109 S.Ct. 789, 102 L.Ed.2d 781 (1989); Martinez v. Orr, 738 F.2d 1107, 1111-12 (10th Cir.1984) ().
Unisys urges that Anderson cannot rely on the letter from the MDHR as a basis for equitably tolling the administrative filing period because the letter does not contain any misinformation or misrepresentations, but merely fails to include all relevant information. We disagree. In Warren, a federal employee brought suit against the wrong defendant because a letter from the EEOC did not make clear the correct party to be sued. As in this case, the letter did not make any affirmative misrepresentations, but...
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