Logan v. MGM Grand Detroit Casino

• Decision Date: 30 April 2018
• Docket Number: Civil Case No. 16–10585
• Citation: 310 F.Supp.3d 881
• Parties: Barbrie LOGAN, Plaintiff, v. MGM GRAND DETROIT CASINO, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

310 F.Supp.3d 881

Barbrie LOGAN, Plaintiff,

v.MGM GRAND DETROIT CASINO, Defendant.

Civil Case No. 16–10585

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed April 30, 2018

Barbrie Logan, Detroit, MI, pro se.

Brett J. Miller, Gary W. Klotz, Butzel Long, Detroit, MI, for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

LINDA V. PARKER, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE

This matter presently is before the Court on Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration of this Court's March 7, 2018 Opinion and Order granting Defendant's motion for summary judgment. In that decision, the Court held that Plaintiff's claims are barred by the six-month statute of limitations set forth in her pre-employment agreement. (ECF No. 53.) Although concluding that the six-month limitations period would be equitably tolled during the EEOC's 180–day period of exclusive jurisdiction, the Court found that Plaintiff was not entitled to equitable tolling because she filed her EEOC charge after the six-month limitations period had expired. In her motion for reconsideration, Plaintiff contends that the Court erred in reaching this conclusion because Michigan is a "deferral" state and thus she had 300 days to file her EEOC charge.¹ Because Plaintiff is incorrect, the Court is denying her motion for reconsideration.

Title VII provides in relevant part:

A charge under this section shall be filed within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred ..., except that in a case of an unlawful employment practice with respect to which the person aggrieved has initially instituted proceedings with a State or local agency with authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, such charge shall be filed by or on behalf of the person aggrieved within three hundred days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred, or within thirty days after receiving notice that the State or local agency has terminated the proceedings under the State or local law, whichever is earlier, and a copy of such charge shall be filed by the Commission with the State or local agency.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e–5(e) (emphasis added). Thus in a state that has a state agency which can provide a remedy for discrimination—a so called "deferral state"—the claimant who files a claim with the state agency is given 300 days to file the claim.² As the italicized language above reflects, however, the claimant must have actually instituted proceedings with the state or local agency for the 300–day period to be applicable. See also El–Zabet v. Nissan North America, Inc. , 211 Fed.Appx. 460, 463 (6th Cir. 2006) (holding that the 180–day time limit applies where the plaintiff did not institute proceedings with a state or local agency); Gilardi v. Schroeder , 833 F.2d 1226, 1230 (7th Cir. 1987) (explaining that the statutory prerequisite for the extended filing period is that the complainant instituted proceedings initially with the state agency or the EEOC files the charges with the state agency on the complainant's behalf); EEOC v. Dolgencorp, LLC , 196 F.Supp.3d 783, 799 (E.D. Tenn. 2016) (explaining that "[i]f a charge is not first filed with the [state agency], or dual-filed with the EEOC and the [state agency] contemporaneously ... then the 180–day limit applies"); Houston v. Pepsico, Inc. , No. 3:14-2050, 2016 WL 2607006, at *4 (M.D. Tenn. May 6, 2016) (same); Syed v. Northern Kentucky Water Dist. , No. 08-197, 2010 WL 1235330, at *4 (E.D. Ky. ...