Davis v. North Carolina Dept. of Correction

• Decision Date: 02 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-2640,93-2640
• Parties: 67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 258, 66 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,471 Carl D. DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, Defendant-Appellee. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Amicus Curiae.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 134

48 F.3d 134

67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 258,

66 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,471

Carl D. DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, Defendant-Appellee Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Amicus Curiae.

No. 93-2640.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Sept. 29, 1994.

Decided March 2, 1995.

ARGUED: Abraham Penn Jones, Law Offices of Abraham Penn Jones, Raleigh, NC, for appellant. Valerie L. Bateman, Asst. Atty. Gen., North Carolina Dept. of Justice, Raleigh, NC, for appellee. ON BRIEF: Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen., James Peeler Smith, Special Deputy Atty. Gen., North Carolina Dept. of Justice, Raleigh, NC, for appellee. James R. Neely, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Gwendolyn Young Reams, Associate Gen. Counsel, Lorraine C. Davis, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Sophia C. Goodman, Office of Gen. Counsel, E.E.O.C., Washington, DC, for amicus curiae.

Before LUTTIG and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and CHASANOW, United States District Judge for the District of Maryland, sitting by designation.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge LUTTIG wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILLIAMS and Judge CHASANOW joined.

OPINION

LUTTIG, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Carl D. Davis challenges the removal of his employment discrimination action from a state administrative agency in North Carolina to federal district court in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Because we conclude that removal was improper, we remand Davis' action to the district court for remand to the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings.

I.

In September 1991, Davis applied for a position as a correctional program assistant with the North Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC). After the DOC denied Davis' application, Davis filed a pro se discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in which he contended that he "was discriminated against because of [his] race, Black, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 [sic], as amended." J.A. at 113B. Davis' complaint made no reference to violations of North Carolina antidiscrimination law.

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(c), the EEOC deferred processing Davis' claim and referred his complaint to North Carolina's Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), the state agency established to hear discrimination claims referred from the EEOC. See N.C.Gen.Stat. Sec. 7A-759. After investigating the DOC's decision not to hire Davis, the Director of OAH's Civil Rights Division determined "that there is reasonable cause to believe that [DOC] has engaged in an unlawful employment practice in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." J.A. at 113F. The Director then invited the parties "to participate in conciliation efforts ... intended to bring about total compliance with Federal laws and regulations governing unlawful employment discrimination." J.A. at 113F. Efforts at conciliation ultimately failed.

A worksharing agreement between the OAH and the EEOC, entered into pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-8(b), defined Davis' options upon the failure of conciliation efforts. J.A. at 61-77. That agreement provided that after conciliation failed, a complainant could request a hearing before a state administrative law judge or request that the EEOC resume jurisdiction over the claim. J.A. at 65. Davis opted for a hearing before a state administrative law judge.

After Davis filed his petition requesting a state administrative hearing, DOC filed a Petition for Removal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1441 and removed Davis' action to federal district court in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Davis filed a Motion to Remand challenging the district court's jurisdiction over his claim. The district court denied Davis' motion and certified an interlocutory appeal so that this court could resolve the jurisdictional question.

II.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 creates a federal cause of action for employment discrimination. Before a federal court may assume jurisdiction over a claim under Title VII, however, a claimant must exhaust the administrative procedures enumerated in 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(b), which include an investigation of the complaint and a determination by the EEOC as to whether "reasonable cause" exists to believe that the charge of discrimination is true. Additionally, when the alleged discrimination occurs in a state that has enacted a law "prohibiting the unlawful employment practice alleged" and has "establish[ed] or authoriz[ed] a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice," Title VII provides that

no charge may be filed [with the EEOC] 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.

42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(c). Thus, where state law protects persons against the kind of discrimination alleged, "complainants are required to resort" to "state and local remedies" before they may proceed to the EEOC, and then to federal court, on their claims of discrimination under federal law. New York Gaslight Club, Inc. v. Carey, 447 U.S. 54, 62, 100 S.Ct. 2024, 2030, 64 L.Ed.2d 723 (1980); see also id. at 65, 100 S.Ct. at 2031 ("Initial resort to state and local remedies is mandated, and recourse to the federal forums is appropriate only when the State does not provide prompt or complete relief." (citation omitted)). This requirement is rooted in a "policy of cooperation" between the federal government and the states, id. at 64, 100 S.Ct. at 2031, and is designed to give state agencies " 'a limited opportunity to resolve problems of employment discrimination and thereby to make unnecessary, resort to federal relief by victims of discrimination,' " id. at 63, 100 S.Ct. at 2031 (quoting Oscar Mayer & Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 755, 99 S.Ct. 2066, 2071, 60 L.Ed.2d 609 (1979)).

Section 2000e-5(c) "has resulted in EEOC's development of a referral and deferral system," id. at 64, 100 S.Ct. at 2031, in which the EEOC delays processing a Title VII claim while the complainant first proceeds under state law in a state forum. In cases like that brought by Davis, where "a charge is filed with the EEOC prior to exhaustion of state or local remedies, the Commission refers the complaint to the appropriate local agency." Id. During the sixty day period in which the state conducts "proceedings ... under the State or local law," 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(c), "[t]he EEOC holds the complaint in 'suspended animation.' " New York Gaslight, 447 U.S. at 64, 100 S.Ct. at 2031 (quoting Love v. Pullman, 404 U.S. 522, 526, 92 S.Ct. 616, 618, 30 L.Ed.2d 679 (1972)). The purpose of this "first hiatus is ... to give state administrative agencies an opportunity to invoke state rules of law." Yellow Freight Sys., Inc. v. Donnelly, 494 U.S. 820, 825, 110 S.Ct. 1566, 1569, 108 L.Ed.2d 834 (1990).

After a complainant has filed a claim under state law with the appropriate state agency and waited the requisite sixty days, he may file a Title VII claim with the EEOC. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(c); see also Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 469, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1891, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982) ("Only after providing the appropriate state agency an opportunity to resolve the complaint may an aggrieved individual press his complaint before the EEOC."). Or, if the complainant initially filed the complaint with the EEOC, which then referred it to the state, "the EEOC automatically [will] assume[ ] concurrent jurisdiction of the complaint" when state proceedings terminate, or upon "expiration of the 60-day deferral period, whichever comes first." New York Gaslight, 447 U.S. at 64, 100 S.Ct. at 2031.

Even at this point, however, Title VII still prohibits a claimant from invoking the jurisdiction of the federal courts. As the Supreme Court has recognized, "action by the EEOC ... is a predicate for litigation based on the federal statute." Yellow Freight Sys., 494 U.S. at 825, 110 S.Ct. at 1569.

Section 2000e-5(b) specifies the actions the EEOC must take before a private litigant may bring a Title VII claim in federal court. Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 47, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1019, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974). That section provides that a federal discrimination claim brought by a private party cannot be heard by a federal district court until the EEOC has conducted an investigation and determined the validity of the claim. Further, the section requires that the EEOC decide whether the agency will bring the claim in federal court or whether the complainant will be issued a right-to-sue letter, which letter is essential to initiation of a private Title VII suit in federal court. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(b); id. Sec. 2000e-5(f)(1); see also Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 104-05 n. 12, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 1610 n. 12, 60 L.Ed.2d 66 ("[A] complainant ... must obtain a 'right-to-sue' letter before proceeding in federal court."); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 798, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1822, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); United Black Firefighters of Norfolk v. Hirst, 604 F.2d 844, 847 (4th Cir.1979). The state proceedings play an important role even within the federal administrative process, as Title VII directs the EEOC to "accord substantial weight to final findings and orders made by State or local authorities in proceedings commenced under State or local law" in making its determination whether reasonable cause exists to believe that an employer has violated Title VII. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(b). The statutory command to "accord substantial weight" to the findings made under state law underscores what is explicit in section 2000e-5(c), that commencement of proceedings under state law is a prerequisite to EEOC action where a state remedial scheme exists.

Title VII thus establishes a multi-tiered administrative scheme pursuant...