Green v. Brennan

• Decision Date: 23 May 2016
• Docket Number: 14–613.
• Citation: 195 L.Ed.2d 44,136 S.Ct. 1769,578 U.S. 547
• Parties: Marvin GREEN, Petitioner v. Megan J. BRENNAN, Postmaster General.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

578 U.S. 547

136 S.Ct. 1769

195 L.Ed.2d 44

Marvin GREEN, Petitioner

v.Megan J. BRENNAN, Postmaster General.

No. 14–613.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Nov. 30, 2015.

Decided May 23, 2016.

Brian Wolfman, Stanford, CA, for Petitioner.

Curtis E. Gannon, for Respondent.

Catherine M.A. Carroll as amica curiae, appointed by the Court, in support of the judgment below.

John Mosby, Elisa Moran, Denver, Marilyn Cain Gordon, Washington, DC, Brian Wolfman, Counsel of Record, Jeffrey L. Fisher, Stanford Law School, Supreme Court, Litigation Clinic, Stanford, CA, for Petitioner.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Benjamin C. Mizer, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Marleigh D. Dover, Charles W. Scarborough, Stephanie R. Marcus, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent in opposition.

Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or retaliating against their employees for opposing or seeking relief from such discrimination. Before a federal civil servant can sue his employer for violating Title VII, he must, among other things, "initiate contact" with an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor at his agency " within 45 days of the date of the matter alleged to be discriminatory." 29 CFR § 1614.105(a)(1) (2015).

If an employee claims he has been fired for discriminatory reasons, the "matter alleged to be discriminatory" includes the discharge itself and the 45–day limitations period begins running only after the employee is fired.

We address here when the limitations period begins to run for an employee who was not fired, but resigns in the face of intolerable discrimination—a "constructive" discharge. We hold that, in such circumstances, the "matter alleged to be discriminatory" includes the employee's resignation, and that the 45–day clock for a constructive discharge begins running only after the employee resigns.

I

We recite the following facts in the light most favorable to petitioner Marvin Green, against whom the District Court entered summary judgment. Green is a black man who worked for the Postal Service for 35 years. In 2008, he was serving as the postmaster for Englewood, Colorado when he applied for a promotion to the vacant postmaster position in nearby Boulder. He was passed over. Shortly thereafter, Green complained he was denied the promotion because of his race.

Green's relations with his supervisors crumbled following his complaint. Tensions peaked on December 11, 2009, when two of Green's supervisors accused him of intentionally delaying the mail—a criminal offense. See 18 U.S.C. § 1703. They informed Green that the Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was investigating the charge and that OIG agents had arrived to interview him as part of their investigation. After Green met with the OIG agents, his supervisors gave him a letter reassigning him to off-duty status until the matter was resolved. Even though the OIG agents reported to Green's supervisors that no further investigation was warranted, the supervisors continued to represent to Green that "the OIG is all over this" and that the "criminal" charge "could be a life changer." App. 53.

On December 16, 2009, Green and the Postal Service signed an agreement whose meaning remains disputed. Relevant here, the Postal Service promised not to pursue criminal charges in exchange for Green's promise to leave his post in Englewood. The agreement also apparently gave Green a choice: effective March 31, 2010, he could either retire or report for duty in Wamsutter, Wyoming—population 451—at a salary considerably lower than what he earned in his Denver suburb. Green chose to retire and submitted his resignation to the Postal Service on February 9, 2010, effective March 31.

On March 22—41 days after submitting his resignation paperwork to the Postal Service on February 9, but 96 days after signing the settlement agreement on December 16—Green contacted an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor to report an unlawful constructive discharge. He contended that his supervisors had threatened criminal charges and negotiated the resulting agreement in retaliation for his original complaint.¹ He alleged that the choice he had been given effectively forced his resignation in violation of Title VII.

Green eventually filed suit in the Federal District Court for the District of Colorado, alleging, inter alia, that the Postal Service constructively discharged him. The Postal Service moved for summary judgment, arguing that Green had failed to make timely contact with an EEO counselor within 45 days of the "matter alleged to be discriminatory," as required by 29 CFR § 1614.105(a)(1). The District Court granted the Postal Service's motion for summary judgment.

The Tenth Circuit affirmed, holding that the "matter alleged to be discriminatory" encompassed only the Postal Service's discriminatory actions and not Green's independent decision to resign on February 9. Green v. Donahoe, 760 F.3d 1135 (2014). Therefore, the 45–day limitations period started running when both parties signed the settlement agreement on December 16, 2009. Accordingly, because 96 days passed between the agreement and when Green contacted an EEO counselor on March 22, 2010, his constructive-discharge claim was time barred.

Two other Courts of Appeals agree with the Tenth Circuit's view that the limitations period begins to run for a constructive-discharge claim after the employer's last discriminatory act.² As the Tenth Circuit recognized, however, other Courts of Appeals have held that the limitations period for a constructive-discharge claim does not begin to run until the employee resigns.³

We granted certiorari to resolve this split. 575 U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1892, 191 L.Ed.2d 762 (2015). Because no party here supports the Tenth Circuit's holding that an employee's resignation is not part of the "matter alleged to be discriminatory," we appointed Catherine M.A. Carroll to defend that aspect of the judgment below. 576 U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 14, 386, 193 L.Ed.2d 308 (2015). She has ably discharged her duties and the Court thanks her for her service.

II

Before a federal civil servant can sue his employer in court for discriminating against him in violation of Title VII, he must first exhaust his administrative remedies.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e–16(c). To exhaust those remedies, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has promulgated regulations that require, among other things, that a federal employee consult with an EEO counselor prior to filing a discrimination lawsuit. Specifically, he "must initiate contact with a Counselor within 45 days of the date of the matter alleged to be discriminatory or, in the case of personnel action, within 45 days of the effective date of the action." 29 CFR § 1614.105(a)(1).⁴ The timeliness of Green's claim therefore turns on our interpretation of this EEOC regulation implementing Title VII.⁵

Although we begin our interpretation of the regulation with its text, the text in this case is not particularly helpful. Nowhere does § 1614.105 indicate whether a "matter alleged to be discriminatory" in a constructive-discharge claim includes the employee's resignation, as Green contends, or only the employer's discriminatory conduct, as amica contends. The word "matter" simply means "an allegation forming the basis of a claim or defense," Black's Law Dictionary 1126 (10th ed. 2014)—a term that could readily apply to a discrimination-precipitated resignation. So the "matter alleged to be discriminatory" could refer to all of the allegations underlying a claim of discrimination, including the employee's resignation, or only to those allegations concerning the employer's discriminatory conduct. We therefore must turn to other canons of interpretation.

The most helpful canon in this context is "the ‘standard rule’ " for limitations periods. Graham County Soil & Water Conservation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson, 545 U.S. 409, 418, 125 S.Ct. 2444, 162 L.Ed.2d 390 (2005). Ordinarily, a " ‘limitations period commences when the plaintiff has a complete and present cause of action.’ " Ibid. "[A] cause of action does not become ‘complete and present’ for limitations purposes until the plaintiff can file suit and obtain relief." Bay Area Laundry and Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corp. of Cal., 522 U.S. 192, 201, 118 S.Ct. 542, 139 L.Ed.2d 553 (1997). Although the standard rule can be displaced such that the limitations period begins to run before a plaintiff can file a suit, we "will not infer such an odd result in the absence of any such indication" in the text of the limitations period. Reiter v. Cooper, 507 U.S. 258, 267, 113 S.Ct. 1213, 122 L.Ed.2d 604 (1993).

Applying this default rule, we are persuaded that the "matter alleged to be discriminatory" in a constructive-discharge claim necessarily includes the employee's resignation for three reasons. First, in the context of a constructive-discharge claim, a resignation is part of the "complete and present cause of action" necessary before a limitations period ordinarily begins to run. Second, nothing in the regulation creating the limitations period here, § 1614.105, clearly indicates an intent to displace this standard rule. Third, practical considerations confirm the merit of applying the standard rule here. We therefore interpret the term "matter alleged to be discriminatory" for a constructive-discharge claim to include the date Green resigned.

A

The standard rule for limitations periods requires us first to determine what is a "complete and present cause of action" for a constructive-discharge claim. We hold that such a claim accrues only after an employee resigns.

The constructive-discharge doctrine contemplates a situation in which an...