Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Louisville & N. R. Co.
| Decision Date | 16 December 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 74-1185,74-1185 |
| Citation | 505 F.2d 610 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
| Parties | 8 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1316, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9850 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
Wm. A. Carey, Gen. Counsel, Wm. L. Robinson, Associate Gen. Counsel, E.E.O.C., Washington, D.C., Roger J. Martinson, Acting Reg. Atty., E.E.O.C., Leonard N. Cohen, Asst. Reg. Atty., Wm. C. McNeill, III, Trial Atty., Atlanta, Ga., Joseph T. Eddins Jr., Beatrice Rosenberg Charles L. Resichel, Debra A. Millenson, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellant.
Charles A. Powell, III, Birmingham, Ala., Marvin D. Jones, Louisville, Ky., for defendant-appellee.
James P. Alexander, John J. Coleman, Jr., Evans, Dunn, Birmingham, Ala., for Guaranty Sav. & Loan Ass'n, amicus curiae.
Before MOORE, * AINSWORTH and RONEY, Circuit Judges.
The principal question in this case is whether there is a 180-day limitation on the power of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to bring actions under Title VII, Subchapter VI, of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. (1974). We hold that the statute contains no limitation, and accordingly reverse the district court.
On February 28, 1970, Ben Thomas, a black male, was discharged by defendant Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company (L & N) for falsely answering an employment application question concerning his involvement in claims or suits for damages. On April 27, 1970, Thomas filed a charge with EEOC alleging he was discharged because of his race.
On November 4, 1970, EEOC's District Director found that the discharge was not racially motivated. On January 28, 1972, the Commission adopted the District Director's finding that the Charging Party (Thomas) was not discharged because of race. It also found, however, that L & N had a practice of considering arrest records and using certain pre-employment tests in its hiring decisions, which provided reasonable cause to believe L & N was engaging in unlawful employment practices.
In accordance with the relevant statutory provisions, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(b) (1974), L & N and EEOC began conciliation efforts, meeting initially on March 9, 1972. On May 31, 1972, the Commission notified L & N that it had sent a notice of right-to-sue to the Charging Party (Thomas) because conciliation had not led to voluntary compliance with Title VII by L & N. See 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(f)(1) (1974), 29 C.F.R. 1601.25 (1972). On July 16, 1973, the Commission brought this action in the district court, which held that Section 706(f)(1) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(f)(1) (1974), empowering the Commission to sue, contains a 180-day limitation on EEOC's right of action, barring the present claim. Alternatively the court held that the Commission had failed to comply with its own regulations concerning notice of termination of conciliation efforts.
Section 706(f)(1) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(f)(1), as amended, provides in relevant part:
If within thirty days after a charge is filed with the Commission or within thirty days after expiration of any period of reference under subsection (c) or (d) of this section, 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 not a government, governmental agency, or political subdivision named in the charge . . .. 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 or the expiration of any period of reference under subsection (c) or (d) of this section, whichever is later, 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 . . ..
This text, taken in its ordinary meaning, creates two rights. First, the Commission is empowered to bring civil actions if conciliation has failed, provided that thirty days have elapsed since the filing of the charge. Second, the Charging Party may bring his own action if the Commission has dismissed his charge or has taken no action within one hundred and eighty days. No explicit time limitation on the Commission's right to bring civil actions is mentioned in the subsection.
Other provisions of the Act do contain explicit limitations. For example, the private right of action authorized by Section 706(f)(1) contains a definite , 90-day limitation on such suits. The private suit limitation makes the absence of any specific limit for Commission actions all the more conspicuous, and the difference must be taken to be intentional. The limitations provided elsewhere in Title VII are similarly specific and direct. In Section 706(e) the statute provides '(a) charge under this section shall be filed within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred . . ..' Section 706(c) states that
. . . 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 See also Section 706(g), 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(g) (1974), relating to back pay ('Back pay liability shall not accrue from a date more than two years prior to the filing of a charge with the Commission.').
The enactment containing the 1972 amendments provided that the Commission's newly-created right of action extended to all charges then pending. Section 14, P.L. 92-261, 86 Stat. 113 (1972) (). It was apparent that the Commission would be precluded from acting on most of the crush of pre-1972 cases if a 180-day limitation applied. Even if the alleged 180-day limitation were construed to run from the date of the amendment applying the Commission's new right to bring suit in pending cases (March 24, 1972), most of these cases could not have been brought in time because of the enormous backlog. See EEOC v. Christiansburg Garment Co., Inc., W.D.Va., 1974, 376 F.Supp. 1067, 1070. 'There is a presumption against a construction which would render a statute ineffective or inefficient . . ..' United States v. Powers, 307 U.S. 214, 217, 59 S.Ct. 805, 807, 83 L.Ed. 1245 (1939). We are reluctant to nullify the provision extending the Commission's right to sue in pending cases, especially when the plain language of the statute points in the other direction.
L & N argues that the statute establishes one right of action held first by the Commission for one hundred and eighty days and then by private parties for ninety days, rather than two parallel rights. In support of its position L & N points to special rules of construction for statutes creating new causes of action, to EEOC's own regulations, and to the limitation on the Commission's right to intervene in private actions. None of these considerations, however, contradicts the interpretation we have set forth above.
If a statute creating a new cause of action contains a time limit that limit is a restriction on the right itself. Such restrictions usually are construed more strictly than ordinary statutes of limitation. United States ex rel. Texas Portland Cement Co. v. McCord, 233 U.S. 157, 162, 34 S.Ct. 550, 552, 58 L.Ed. 893 (1914); Simon v. United States, 5 Cir., 1957, 244 F.2d 703, 704; Northern Metal Co. v. United States, 3 Cir., 1965, 350 F.2d 833, 837.
L & N contends Section 706(f)(1) does create a new cause of action, and therefore a stricter interpretation should be placed on the statute, leading to the conclusion that the running of 180 days terminates EEOC's cause of action. The flaw in this argument is that the strict rules invoked by L & N do not come into play until the court finds a limitation in the statute. These rules prohibit a relaxation of an express limitation, but they 'are not helpful in determining whether a limitation should be implied.' EEOC v. DuPont de Nemours, D.Del., 1974, 373 F.Supp. 1321, 1327 n. 4. Clearly Congress can create a right without fixing a time limitation, see Anderson v. United States Atomic Energy Com'n., 7 Cir., 1963, 313 F.2d 313, and we believe it did so in Section 706(f)(1).
The Commission's regulations are even less convincing as evidence of a limitation in the statute. They provided that issuance of a notice of right-to-sue to a Charging Party 'suspend(s) further Commission proceedings unless the Field Director determines it is in the public interest to continue such proceedings . . ..' 29 C.F.R. 1601.25a(d) (1972). In contrast, 29 C.F.R. 1601.25b(e) (1972) provided that notice to members of an aggrieved class of persons affected by conduct that is the basis of a Commission-initiated charge does not terminate the Commission's jurisdiction. From this distinction L & N infers that the Commission's own regulations acknowledge the expiration of its authority over a case upon notice of right-to-sue to a Charging Party. The fact that the Field Director has discretion to process the case beyond the 180-day period, however, belies the assertion, repeatedly advanced by L & N, that the alleged limitation on EEOC's right of action is 'jurisdictiona...
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