Hall v. Board of County Com'rs of Frederick County

• Decision Date: 24 February 1981
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. M-80-1459.
• Citation: 509 F. Supp. 841
• Parties: Patricia E. HALL v. The BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF FREDERICK COUNTY et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

509 F. Supp. 841

Patricia E. HALL v. The BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF FREDERICK COUNTY et al.

Civ. A. No. M-80-1459.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

February 24, 1981.

Roger C. Wolf, Knoxville, Md., for plaintiff.

A. Samuel Cook, Stanley Mazaroff and Jana Howard, Baltimore, Md., for defendants.

JAMES R. MILLER, Jr., District Judge.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

In this action for damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, plaintiff contends that the defendants have discriminated against her on the basis of her sex and her physical disability, and have retaliated against her because of her efforts to draft, and have adopted, a county wide affirmative action plan. Plaintiff also contends that the defendants have violated her rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as under state law.

Defendants have moved to dismiss on numerous grounds (Paper Nos. 16 & 20). Plaintiff has submitted a memorandum in response (Paper No. 18), and a hearing on defendants' motion was held on February 6, 1981.

I. Factual Overview

In January of 1978, plaintiff was hired by the Board of County Commissioners of Frederick County to become the Executive Director of the county's Human Relations Council (HRC). One of plaintiff's principal tasks was to develop and help implement an affirmative action plan for the county. Plaintiff served as Executive Director of the HRC from February 6, 1978, to November 22, 1978, when she was informed by letter from defendant Dorsey that she had been fired. Plaintiff has suffered from a physical disability since her birth.

Plaintiff contends that she was hired at a salary considerably lower than that paid to her two male predecessors. She also maintains that she was covered by the county personnel rules during the period of her employment. Under the personnel rules, new county employees are on probation for the first six months of their employment, and are to be evaluated at the end of the first, third, and sixth employment month. According to plaintiff, she was not so evaluated. Instead, on May 31, 1978, some four months after she had been hired, four members of the Board of Commissioners, two members of the HRC, and several other persons held a closed-door discussion of plaintiff's job performance. Despite her request to be informed of the complaints against her and for an opportunity to respond, plaintiff was simply informed that her probationary period was to be extended for an additional ninety days. She was also required to keep a daily log of her activities for the Executive Committee of the HRC. On June 27, 1978, defendant Lochner evaluated plaintiff in writing and, overall, the evaluation was satisfactory. Plaintiff asserts that all of these actions were at variance with the county personnel rules, and that no male department head had ever been evaluated in such a manner. Plaintiff was not evaluated further prior to the expiration of the six month probationary period. She did, however, receive a salary increase on July 1, 1978.

Plaintiff's proposed affirmative action plan was circulated among the Commissioners in May of 1978. In early June of 1978, the plan was formally presented to the Commissioners for their consideration. On September 26, 1978, the HRC instructed plaintiff to mail a copy of the plan, along with a cover letter, to each of the candidates in the county's upcoming general election of Commissioners.

Shortly thereafter, defendant Lochner, after consulting with defendant Bryan, wrote a letter to each candidate withdrawing the cover letter which plaintiff had drafted and sent. Plaintiff was admonished for sending the cover letter and given a negative evaluation on October 17, 1978. This evaluation was conducted by only three members of the HRC. The other members were not consulted and plaintiff was not shown the evaluation until October 23, 1978.

Because of the October 17, 1978, evaluation, the Commissioners held a hearing concerning plaintiff's performance on November 9, 1978. Both plaintiff and the chair of the HRC participated, and all members of the HRC were invited. Later that evening, plaintiff was informed that she had been fired.

On November 20, 1978, plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. She received a right-to-sue letter from the Department of Justice on March 12, 1980.

II. Title VII Claims

A. Lack of Jurisdiction

Defendants contend that the court is without jurisdiction over plaintiff's Title VII claims, counts I and II of the second amended complaint, because plaintiff did not personally file a charge with the EEOC between the 60th and 300th day after the date of the alleged discrimination. Plaintiff concedes that she did not herself file such a charge but asserts that the following undisputed facts satisfy the requirements of sections 706(c) and 706(e), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(c) & (e), as a matter of law. The court agrees.

On November 20, 1978, plaintiff filed a discrimination charge with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations (MCHR) (Paper No. 16, Ex. 1), which was noted as received by the MCHR on November 29, 1978. Pursuant to its work sharing agreement with the EEOC (Plaintiff's Motion Ex. 1), the MCHR sent a "Charge Transmittal" to the EEOC on November 29, 1978, and indicated that the charge would be processed initially by the MCHR (Paper No. 16, Ex. 2). The EEOC acknowledged receipt of the charge on December 5, 1978, and gave it an EEOC charge number (Paper No. 16, Ex. 2). On December 5, 1978, the EEOC sent notice of the charge to defendant Frederick County (Paper No. 16, Ex. 3). The notice informed the county that the EEOC had received plaintiff's discrimination charge, that the charge would be deferred to the MCHR, and that the EEOC would assume jurisdiction upon the expiration of 60 days or the termination of the MCHR's proceeding, whichever occurred first.

It is now well settled that in a deferral state a charge may not be "filed" with the EEOC until either the state proceedings have terminated or 60 days have passed. This is the case even if a charge is physically received and acted upon by the EEOC on an earlier date. Mohasco Corp. v. Silver, 447 U.S. 807, 818, 100 S.Ct. 2486, 2492-93, 65 L.Ed.2d 532, 542-43 (1980). Therefore, plaintiff's charge was not "filed" with the EEOC on December 5, 1978. The questions presented in this case then, are (1) whether the MCHR may file a charge with the EEOC on behalf of an individual and (2) whether a charge transmitted to the EEOC prior to the expiration of the time set out in section 706(c), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c), may be deemed to have been filed with the EEOC within the limitations period set out in section 706(e), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e).

It is true, as defendants urge so strenuously, that Article 49B, Md.Ann.Code, does not expressly authorize the MCHR to file charges with the EEOC on behalf of individual complainants. That fact, however, is irrelevant to the issues to be decided. Section 706(e), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e), states expressly that a charge may be filed with the EEOC either "by or on behalf of the person aggrieved." (Emphasis supplied). Additionally, EEOC's regulations provide that "the Commission shall receive information concerning alleged violations of Title VII from any person," 29 C.F.R. § 1601.6 (1979), and that a "charge on behalf of a person claiming to be aggrieved may be made by any person, agency, or organization." (Emphasis supplied). 29 C.F.R. § 1601.7(a) (1979).

Under the work sharing agreement in force when plaintiff filed her state charge, the EEOC had designated the MCHR as "an agent of EEOC for the purpose of receiving charges on behalf of EEOC." (Plaintiff's Motion Ex. 1, at ¶ 2). Although the MCHR had primary responsibility for processing charges originally received by it, that agency was under an obligation to forward such a charge to the EEOC and inform the charging party that the complaint would be so forwarded (Plaintiff's Motion Ex. 1, at ¶¶ 1 & 6).

In Love v. Pullman Co., 404 U.S. 522, 525, 92 S.Ct. 616, 618, 30 L.Ed.2d 679 (1972), the Court held that "nothing in the Act suggests that state proceedings may not be initiated by the EEOC acting on behalf of the complainant rather than by the complainant himself." Although Love was decided in a factual setting almost in reverse of that found in this case, its reasoning, when analyzed in connection with the language of section 706(e), the work sharing agreement, and the applicable regulations, indicates that a state agency may file an EEOC charge on behalf of a person who has initiated state charges. The court holds, therefore, that the MCHR could have filed a charge on behalf of plaintiff with the EEOC.

The next question is whether plaintiff's charge was "filed" with the EEOC within the applicable limitations period. Defendants contend that it was not filed with the EEOC after the 60th, but before the 300th day, from the date of the alleged discrimination, because there is no evidence that the EEOC did anything with plaintiff's charge after the deferral period. Defendants also note that the EEOC acted as if the charge were filed on December 5, 1978, by sending to defendant Frederick County a charge notice. In sum, defendants maintain that plaintiff was required to file a charge with the EEOC after the expiration of the deferral period even though her charge had been previously transmitted to the EEOC by the MCHR.

Reading such a requirement into the Act would neither promote Congress' goal of fostering federal/state cooperation nor protect defendants from stale claims. Moreover, it would conflict with the reasoning and practical effect of the Court's decision in Love. In that case the EEOC had received a complaint on May 23, 1966. Since the allegedly discriminatory acts took place in a deferral state, the EEOC, in accordance with its usual practice, "treated this letter as a complaint but did not formally file it." 404 U.S. at 524, 92...