Equal Employment Opportunity Com'n v. Duff Bros., Inc., Civ. A. No. 6817.
| Decision Date | 27 September 1973 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 6817. |
| Parties | EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. DUFF BROTHERS, INC. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee |
Annette Ball, EEOC, Atlanta Regional Litigation Center, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff.
John P. Gaither, Witt, Gaither, Abernathy & Wilson, Chattanooga, Tenn., for defendant.
This case is presently before the Court on a motion by the defendant to dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, to enter a summary judgment in the defendant's favor. The substance of the defendant's motion is that the action is barred by the provisions of § 706(f)(1) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S. C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) or, alternatively, by the one-year statute of limitations found in Tennessee Code Annotated § 28-304.
The present action finds its genesis in charges filed with the plaintiff by one Nathaniel Carter, an employee of the defendant, in August of 1969. Service of the charge by the plaintiff was made on the defendant in October of 1969. The parties were unable to reach a conciliation agreement, and, after an investigation, the plaintiff found reasonable cause to believe the charges were true in part. Again, the plaintiff tried unsuccessfully to reach a conciliation agreement, and finally in March of 1972, the plaintiff notified Mr. Carter that he could, within thirty days, institute a private civil action to redress his grievances. No action appears to have been taken by the charging party. Subsequently, the present action was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 17, 1973.
The plaintiff Commission did not have authority to institute a lawsuit of this nature until March 24, 1972, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to provide the Commission with this authority. Public Law No. 92-261, 86 Stat. 103 (March 24, 1972). That amendment provides in pertinent part:
If within thirty (30) days after a charge is filed with the Commission . . . the Commission has been unable to secure from the respondent a conciliation agreement acceptable to the Commission, the Commission may bring a civil action against any respondent . . . If a charge filed with the Commission pursuant to subsection (b) of this section is dismissed by the Commission, or if within one hundred and eighty days from the filing of such charge . . . the Commission has not filed a civil action under this section . . . or the Commission has not entered into a conciliation agreement to which the person aggrieved is a party, the Commission . . . shall so notify the person aggrieved and within ninety days after the giving of such notice a civil action may be brought against the respondent named in the charge (A) by the person claiming to be aggrieved or (B) if such charge was filed by a member of the Commission, by any person whom the charge alleged was aggrieved by the alleged unlawful employment practice. 42 U.S. C. § 2000e-5(f)(1).
Before the amendment, a civil action could only be initiated by an aggrieved party who brought suit within thirty days after receipt of the Commission's notice of right to sue. Sanders v. Dobbs Houses, Inc., 431 F.2d 1097 (5th Cir. 1970) cert. denied 401 U.S. 948, 91 S.Ct. 935, 28 L.Ed.2d 231 (1971).
The defendant contends that the language of the 1972 amendment places a similar...
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