Hildebrand v. Allegheny Cnty.

• Decision Date: 27 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–1321.,13–1321.
• Citation: 757 F.3d 99
• Parties: Anthony HILDEBRAND, Appellant v. ALLEGHENY COUNTY, a political entity; Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

757 F.3d 99

Anthony HILDEBRAND, Appellant

v.ALLEGHENY COUNTY, a political entity; Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.

No. 13–1321.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued Nov. 7, 2013.

Opinion Filed: June 27, 2014.

Marjorie E. Crist, (Argued), Crist Law Center, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellant.

Anne N. Occhialino, (Argued), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Andrew F. Szefi, Virginia S. Scott, (Argued), Allegheny County Law Department, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellee Allegheny County.

Bernard M. Schneider, (Argued), Brucker Schneider & Porter, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellee Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.

Before: GREENAWAY, JR., VANASKIE and ROTH, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

VANASKIE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents three issues on which we have not previously ruled in a precedential opinion. First, whether an employee terminated from a local government position may maintain an action for age discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Second, whether the pleading of exhaustion of administrative remedies, a prerequisite to bringing a lawsuit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621–634, must satisfy the standards established in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). And third, whether a complainant's submission of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's revised Intake Questionnaire constitutes the filing of a charge of discrimination.

As to the first question, we hold that a state or local government employee may not maintain an age discrimination claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, but must instead proceed under the ADEA. As to the second question, we hold that a plaintiff is not obligated to plead exhaustion of administrative remedies with particularity, but may instead allege in general terms that the required administrative process has been completed. And finally, we hold that the EEOC Intake Questionnaire, revised in the wake of Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki, 552 U.S. 389, 128 S.Ct. 1147, 170 L.Ed.2d 10 (2008), when properly completed, constitutes a charge of discrimination.

As a result of our holdings, we will affirm the District Court's dismissal of Appellant Anthony Hildebrand's § 1983 claims but we will vacate the District Court's dismissal of Hildebrand's ADEA claim against the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office as Hildebrand submitted a properly completed Intake Questionnaire to the EEOC within the deadline for filing a charge of discrimination, and Hildebrand adequately pled the exhaustion of administrative remedies. Finally, we will affirm the dismissal of the ADEA claims against Appellee Allegheny County because it was not named on the Intake Questionnaire, and was not identified as a respondent to an age discrimination charge until after the deadline for filing a charge of discrimination against it had passed.

I. Background

Anthony Hildebrand was employed as a detective for the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office (“DA's Office”) for five years before he was terminated on February 18, 2011. Prior to his work at the DA's Office, Hildebrand spent fifteen years as an undercover narcotics detective with the Pittsburgh Police Department.

On February 18, 2011, Hildebrand received a letter suspending him without pay for five days pending discharge, and announcing his termination effective that day. He filed an internal grievance, but the termination was ultimately upheld.

Hildebrand maintains that his termination was part of “a well-known and established practice to push out older workers through termination or forced resignation.” (Appellant's Br. 5.) He contends that he became a victim of age-based discrimination beginning in 2009 when he was assigned a new supervisor who, he asserts, demoted him because of his age despite his satisfactory work performance. As part of his demotion, Hildebrand states that he was insulted on the basis of his age and relocated to an inferior workplace. He further alleges that the discrimination he faced was part of a hostile work environment that transcended the conduct of any one employee.

On December 1, 2011, Hildebrand completed an Intake Questionnaire (“the Intake Questionnaire”) with the EEOC, indicating that he was the victim of discrimination on the basis of his age. He also checked a box on the Intake Questionnaire authorizing the EEOC to investigate his claim and indicating that he “want[ed] to file a charge of discrimination.” (EEOC Br. 3.) Subsequently, on January 11, 2012, Hildebrand completed a “Charge of Discrimination” with the EEOC, naming the Allegheny County District Attorney as the respondent. The EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter on May 7, 2012, and Hildebrand filed suit on August 7, 2012.

Hildebrand's complaint named Allegheny County (“the County”), as well as the DA's Office, as defendants. His complaint asserted violations of the ADEA, Title VII (retaliation), 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (asserting violation of the Equal Protection Clause due to age-based discrimination, as well as violation of his First Amendment free speech rights), the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law, 43 Pa. Stat. §§ 1421–1428, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 43 Pa. Stat. §§ 951–963. His complaint also alleged:

All conditions precedent to jurisdiction under section 706 of Title VII, have occurred or been complied with. Plaintiff filed a claim of employment discrimination with the [EEOC]. The EEOC issued a Notice of Right to Sue. This Complaint is filed within 90 days of such Notice of Right to Sue.

(A.2.)

The County and the DA's Office (collectively, “Appellees”) separately filed motions to dismiss. On December 7, 2012, the District Court granted the motions to dismiss the Title VII retaliation claim. The District Court also applied the pleading standards set forth in Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, and Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, to Hildebrand's assertion that he satisfied all conditions precedent to filing suit under the ADEA. Analyzing Hildebrand's complaint in light of the Iqbal/Twombly standard, the District Court stated:

Because [the complaint] fails to provide any facts, i.e. specific dates, as to when Plaintiff raised his claim with the EEOC and when the EEOC issued its right to sue letter to Plaintiff, and because Plaintiff failed to attach his Right to Sue to the Complaint, ... the Complaint falls short of providing the facts to establish whether he has adequately exhausted his administrative remedies.

(A.112.) Accordingly, the Court dismissed the ADEA claim without prejudice. The District Court also dismissed Hildebrand's section 1983 claims without prejudice.

Hildebrand filed an amended complaint, alleging with greater particularity that he satisfied all conditions precedent to filing suit under the ADEA. Specifically, he averred that he had filed a timely charge of discrimination, the EEOC had issued a right-to-sue letter, and he had filed the complaint within 90 days of notice of the right-to-sue. He attached his charge of discrimination and the EEOC right-to-sue letter to the amended complaint.

Appellees each filed motions to dismiss the Amended Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), arguing, inter alia, that Hildebrand's charge was untimely because it was filed more than 300 days after the last date of discrimination. Allegheny County also urged the District Court to dismiss Hildebrand's ADEA claim against the County on the additional ground that the charge of discrimination named only the DA's Office as a defendant.

Hildebrand attached to his responses to the motions his completed EEOC Intake Questionnaire. He contended that the completed Intake Questionnaire constitutes a charge and was filed within 300 days of the last date of discrimination.

On January 4, 2013, the District Court dismissed Hildebrand's amended complaint. The District Court first dismissed the ADEA claim, concluding that Hildebrand did not file a “charge of discrimination” with the EEOC within the requisite 300 days of the last date of discrimination. Specifically, the District Court found that the last date of alleged discrimination was Hildebrand's February 18, 2011 termination, and that the charge of discrimination filed on January 11, 2012 was therefore untimely. Thus, the District Court concluded that Hildebrand failed to sufficiently plead that he timely filed his claim with the EEOC “in light of the Iqbal/Twombly standard.” (A.307.) Finding that further amendment would be futile, the District Court dismissed the ADEA claim with prejudice.

As to his § 1983 claims, the District Court held that Hildebrand failed to state a plausible claim against Allegheny County under a theory of municipal liability, because he did not plead sufficient facts to support a plausible inference that the County had adopted a custom or practice of age discrimination. The District Court also dismissed the § 1983 claims against the DA's Office based on Hildebrand's concession that it was not a separate entity from the County for purposes of § 1983. Finally, having dismissed with prejudice all claims arising under federal law, the District Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining claims asserted under the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

II. Discussion

The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(a)(3), and 1367. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise plenary review over a decision granting a motion to dismiss. Santiago v. Warminster Twp., 629 F.3d 121, 128 (3d Cir.2010). Accordingly, “[w]e may affirm the district court on any ground supported by the record.” Tourscher v. McCullough, 184 F.3d 236, 240 (3d Cir.1999).

A. Hildebrand's § 1983 Age Discrimination...