Source: https://casetext.com/case/anderson-v-montgomery-ward-co-inc
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 04:30:45+00:00

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Anderson v. Montgomery Ward Co., Inc.
Bridget Arimond, Davis, Barnhill Galland, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Ronald S. Cooper, Steptoe Johnson, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellants.
This interlocutory appeal presents an important question of statutory construction under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621-634. We must decide whether discharged employees of Montgomery Ward Co. (Montgomery Ward) may participate in an age discrimination suit against Montgomery Ward even though the employees failed to file timely charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but when other employees, subject to the same alleged discriminatory practice, filed timely charges. The district court concluded that individuals need not file timely EEOC charges when at least one other similarly situated plaintiff has filed a timely charge. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm.
This appeal involves seven of 39 plaintiffs who have filed suit against Montgomery Ward alleging age discrimination in violation of ADEA. The plaintiffs were management employees of Montgomery Ward with between 10 and 43 years of service. All of the plaintiffs, including the seven appellees, filed charges with the EEOC alleging that they had been discriminated against because of their age. However, the charges of the seven appellees were untimely under ADEA because they were not filed within 300 days of the alleged discriminatory actions. At least 27 charges, 23 of which were timely, contained allegations that Montgomery Ward had engaged in class-based age discrimination; some of the charges mentioned names of other employees who also allegedly had been discriminated against* Montgomery Ward admits that it was aware of an "onslaught" of charge and that it stopped efforts to conciliate the matter with the EEOC once it became aware of the number of charges it was facing.
The seven appellees who failed to file timely charges are: Catherine Breen, Ann Brown, Robert Collins, Victor Morris, Norman Nelson, Jerry Perkins, and William Sokolick.
See, e.g., Charge of Robert Anderson ("Other older employees were also affected. . . . I believe Respondent's efforts have been to eliminate older employees and replace them with younger employees."); Charge of Ronald Aspgren ("It is my belief that Respondent is attempting to remove its older employees and replace them with young employees. Other older employees (over age 50) have been terminated. Some are Kenneth Gould age 54, Jerry Seckinger age 56, Edward Condon age 54, Richard Watson age 60."); Charge of Albert Dapolito ("To my knowledge, approximately 25 other employees have been affected and all are over 40. . . . As far as I know, most of the older employees let go in Chicago have been replaced by younger employees. I believe that Respondent has attempted to displace its older employees and replace them with younger employees.").
Charge of Gerald Seckinger ("Other older employees . . . have been terminated. Some are: J. Vernon Lloyd (law department) age 62; Lawrance Joselit age 57, Catalog Division."); Charge of John Wolfe ("To my knowledge, approximately 25 employees have been affected and all were similarly treated and are over 40 years of age.").
A: Let's set a time frame. The early charges that came in before the onslaught we would attempt to investigate internally. . . .
. . . So we felt that if these plaintiffs, these charging parties, were going to retain counsel, as we had evidence that they — some had and some were going to, then we felt the appropriate decision would be to let counsel sue, and matters would then be handled in litigation, and the full investigation would then be handled in litigation through discovery.
A: I'm not sure that I can state — it was my policy. It wasn't a company policy decision. But that was the policy that, if you want to use that term, which was decided upon by myself and Miss Gilfillan in our responsibility for defending the company.
The plaintiffs filed suit in November 1982. The suit was styled a multiple plaintiff joint action, not a "representative action" (ADEA's version of a class action). On May 10, 1985, after the appellees had participated in the lawsuit, including discovery, for several years, Montgomery Ward moved for summary judgment against them alleging that their participation in the suit was barred by their failure to file a timely EEOC charge. On February 18, 1986, the district court granted Montgomery Ward's motion, ruling that all plaintiffs must have filed timely charges unless other timely charges were expressly representative and the subsequent lawsuit was a representative action. Anderson v. Montgomery Ward Co., No. 82 C 7277, mem. op. (N.D.Ill. Feb. 18, 1986) [hereinafter Ward I]; R. 387. The plaintiffs then moved for reconsideration and for leave to file a third amended complaint to convert their action to a representative action. On April 14, 1986, the district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration and issued a second memorandum opinion allowing those plaintiffs who had not filed timely charges to "piggyback" on the timely charges of other plaintiffs. Anderson v. Montgomery Ward Co., 631 F. Supp. 1546 (N.D.Ill. 1986) [hereinafter Ward II]. The court also allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to plead a representative action. On January 7, 1987, the district court denied Montgomery Ward's motion for reconsideration of Ward II, and then certified for interlocutory appeal those portions of the Ward II order "which address the charge-filing and statute of limitations issues." Anderson v. Montgomery Ward Co., 650 F. Supp. 1476 (N.D.Ill. 1987) [hereinafter Ward III]. Montgomery Ward then filed this appeal, which this court accepted for review on February 17, 1987.
In Ward I, the district court concluded that every plaintiff in an ADEA action must comply with ADEA's charge-filing requirement unless two criteria are satisfied. First, those plaintiffs who did file timely charges must expressly purport to represent other claimants. And second, the ADEA action must be an "opt-in" representative action, as prescribed in section 216(b) of FLSA. The court noted that in this case "[n]one of the plaintiffs who filed EEOC charges did so purporting to represent other employees similarly situated, and nothing in plaintiffs' complaint suggests that this action is brought by some former employees on behalf of others." Ward I at 3. Therefore, the court concluded that each plaintiff had to file a timely charge of discrimination with the EEOC.
In Ward II, the district court reversed its earlier decision that plaintiffs could not piggyback on the timely charges of other employees unless those charges were expressly representative. The court changed its earlier position because of the similarities between ADEA and Title VII. Under Title VII, the court noted, an expressly representative EEOC charge is not a prerequisite to joinder by plaintiffs who failed to file timely charges. Ward II, 631 F. Supp. at 1549. According to the district court, Title VII case law suggests that, as long as one plaintiff has filed a valid EEOC charge, and the claims of the other plaintiffs arose out of similar discriminatory treatment in the same time frame, piggybacking is permissible. Id. Because the charge-filing requirements of Title VII and ADEA have similar purposes, the court concluded that Title VII law should be applied in the ADEA context.
In Ward III, the district court denied Montgomery Ward's motion for reconsideration of Ward II. Montgomery Ward argued that Ward II was in error because none of the timely charges had purported to be brought on behalf of other plaintiffs. The court rejected this argument, reiterating its holding in Ward II that Title VII law is applicable when interpreting the charge-filing requirement of ADEA. The court then said that "several plaintiffs filed timely EEOC charges sufficient to notify both the EEOC and Montgomery Ward that the company may have been engaging in systematic age discrimination." Ward III, 650 F. Supp. at 1478. In the court's view, those charges satisfied all the purposes of ADEA's charge-filing requirement. Moreover, the court noted that ADEA must be interpreted liberally to further its remedial purposes, and that it would be improper to require pro se litigants to use hypertechnical language in order to allege a class-based charge. Id. at 1479. The court also rejected Montgomery Ward's argument that the court had erred in allowing the plaintiffs to convert their action into a representative action. The court stated that Montgomery Ward had had full knowledge of all of the plaintiffs' claims for several years, and that the mere readjustment of this lawsuit from a multiple plaintiff joint action to a representative action did not prejudice Montgomery Ward. Id.
All of the parties to this appeal argue that the court erred in not adopting a more absolute position on whether every plaintiff must file a timely charge. Montgomery Ward submits that piggybacking should not be allowed under any circumstance. It contends that the plain language of the charge-filing requirement establishes that "the filing of a charge is a mandatory prerequisite for any individual who wishes to bring a civil action under the ADEA." Appellant's Br. at 7. Montgomery Ward claims that courts cannot overlook a statute's procedural requirements by focusing on the broad remedial goals of a statute. "Focusing on broad policies rather than specific statutory language frustrates congressional intent by ignoring the legislative compromises frequently embodied in procedural requirements." Id. at 8. Montgomery Ward also maintains that Title VII precepts are not controlling in ADEA cases. Rather, Montgomery Ward claims that Congress intended to incorporate into ADEA the remedies and procedures of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201-219, and not the procedural requirements of Title VII. Montgomery Ward points out that Title VII allow traditional class actions while ADEA, following the pattern of the FLSA, only allows representative actions in which plaintiffs must expressly consent to being represented.
Assuming that piggybacking is permissible, Montgomery Ward contends that the district court erred in allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint into a representative action. Montgomery Ward claims that the statute of limitations for an ADEA action is at most three years. Because more than three years had passed since any of the plaintiffs' cause of action accrued, the amendment should not have been allowed. Moreover, Montgomery Ward contends that the amendment would be inappropriate in this instance because ADEA requires that each plaintiff in a representative action file a written consent with the district court in order to opt-in to a representative action. See 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). According to Montgomery Ward, because none of the plaintiffs have filed a written consent opting-in to a representative action, amendment of the complaint was futile because it was too late for any claimant to file his written consent. See 29 U.S.C. § 256.
In enacting ADEA, Congress borrowed from two rather different pre-existing statutory schemes — the FLSA and Title VII. Here we must decide which of these schemes controls when a party who has not filed a charge with the EEOC later attempts to join an action with other plaintiffs who did file such a charge. Since ADEA's statutory language does not give us a clear-cut answer, it is necessary to identify the intent of Congress from the text and structure of the statute as well as from its legislative history. Fortunately, several pronouncements from the Supreme Court guide our inquiry.
See infra note 10 and accompanying text.
ADEA's present litigation procedures are the same as at the time of Lorillard, except that the duties and responsibilities of the Secretary of Labor were shifted to the EEOC effective January 1, 1979. Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978, § 2, 43 Fed.Reg. 19807, 92 Stat. 3781.
Following the model of the FLSA, the ADEA establishes two primary enforcement mechanisms. Under the FLSA provisions incorporated in § 7(b) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 626(b), the Secretary of Labor may bring suit on behalf of an aggrieved individual for injunctive and monetary relief. 29 U.S.C. § 216(c), 217 (1970 ed. and Supp. V). The incorporated FLSA provisions together with § 7(c) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 626(c), in addition, authorize private civil actions for "such legal equitable relief as will effectuate the purposes of" the ADEA.
Id. at 579, 98 S.Ct. at 869 (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 626(c)).
Although not required by the FLSA, prior to the initiation of any ADEA action, an individual must give notice to the Secretary of Labor of his intention to sue in order that the Secretary can attempt to eliminate the alleged unlawful practice through informal methods. § 7(d), 29 U.S.C. § 626(d). After allowing the Secretary 60 days to conciliate the alleged unlawful practice, the individual may file suit. The right of the individual to sue on his own terminates, however, if the Secretary commences an action on his behalf. § 7(c), 29 U.S.C. § 626(c).
29 U.S.C. § 626(d) (1967). It is unclear whether this language was meant to require that every individual give notice to the Secretary prior to suit. In addressing another prelitigation device under ADEA — the requirement of notification of state agencies under 29 U.S.C. § 633(b) — the Supreme Court noted the obvious parallelism between the prelitigation stages of Title VII actions and those of ADEA actions and suggested that, while exhaustion would be required for "claims for individual relief," "[n]othing in our decision in anywise disturbs the rule of Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 414 n. 8, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2370 n. 8, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975), concerning the rights of unnamed parties in plaintiff class actions." Oscar Mayer Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 758 n. 6, 99 S.Ct. 2066, 2073 n. 6, 60 L.Ed.2d 609 (1979). In Albemarle Paper Co., the Court had noted that Congress clearly intended that back pay could be awarded to unnamed parties in a Title VII plaintiff class who had not exhausted administrative remedies by filing charges with the Secretary of Labor. This dictum in Oscar Mayer Co. may be read to mean that Congress did not intend to require that every litigant make a timely filing before commencing an ADEA action in district court.
As a result of this change in the statute, we certainly must reject Montgomery Ward's suggestion that the plain language of the statute definitively requires every plaintiff to have filed a timely charge. In our view, the language of the statute more closely supports the appellees' position. The statute's only requirement is that a charge must "have been filed." 29 U.S.C. § 626(d). Nothing in the statute elaborates on who must file that charge.
H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 950, supra, reprinted in 1978 U.S. Code Cong. Admin.News 528, 534.
Although they did not deal with the precise question before us, three Supreme Court cases have noted the similarity between the filing requirements of ADEA and Title VII. See EEOC v. Commercial Office Prods., ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 1666, 1675, 100 L.Ed.2d 96 (1988); Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 395 n. 11, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 1133 n. 11, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982); Oscar Mayer Co., 441 U.S. at 755, 99 S.Ct. at 2071. Certainly, both the Title VII requirement and the ADEA charge requirement are intended to perform the same functions. In both statutory schemes, the charge is designed to afford the defendant notice of the allegations and to permit conciliation by the EEOC. See H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 950, supra, reprinted in 1978 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News 528, 534; Babrocky v. Jewel Food Co., 773 F.2d 857, 863 (7th Cir. 1985). Notably, neither of these purposes is at all relevant in FLSA actions. The FLSA has no prelitigation charge-filing requirement, and conciliation is not an objective of FLSA procedures. EEOC v. Hernando Bank, Inc., 724 F.2d 1188, 1193-94 (5th Cir. 1984); EEOC v. Home of Economy, Inc., 712 F.2d 356, 357 (8th Cir. 1983); Ososky v. Wick, 704 F.2d 1264, 1265-66 (D.C. Cir. 1983); DiMartino v. City of Hartford, 636 F. Supp. 1241, 1246 (D.Conn. 1986).
The question we must resolve, therefore, is whether the differences between the litigation schemes of Title VII and ADEA require that we impose different standards on the charge-filing requirements despite their similarities in purpose during the prelitigation stage. In our view, the strong parallelism between the charge-filing requirements of ADEA and Title VII cannot be ignored. See Stearns v. Consolidated Management, Inc., 747 F.2d 1105, 1111 (7th Cir. 1984). We conclude, therefore, that Congress did not intend to require that every individual who files a suit under ADEA also must have filed an individual charge. However, we also believe that the charge-filing requirements under ADEA cannot be interpreted without any reference to the FLSA-based litigation process that Congress has mandated. In opting for the FLSA scheme, Congress also chose the "opt-in" provision of the FLSA. Under this provision, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), all plaintiffs in an ADEA representative action must affirmatively opt-in to the suit. Thus, there are no anonymous plaintiffs under ADEA. One of the chief purposes behind this particular provision was to prevent the filing of claims on behalf of a large group of unnamed and nonparticipating plaintiffs. See Arrington v. National Broadcasting Co., 531 F. Supp. 498, 501 (D.D.C. 1982). In light of this litigation procedure, we believe it is necessary that the defendant at least be apprised during the conciliation process of the possibility of a subsequent lawsuit with many plaintiffs. Therefore, in our view, the charge must, at the very least, contain an allegation of class-wide discrimination. This notification is necessary in order to satisfy Congress' express desire that the defendant understand, during the conciliation state, the magnitude of his potential liability. We therefore approve of the basic position taken by the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits that only a charge that fulfills this notice criterion may serve as a basis for suit by others who are similarly situated. See Kloos v. Carter-Day Co., 799 F.2d 397, 400-02 (8th Cir. 1986) (timely charge must allege class-wide age discrimination or purport to represent a class in order to allow piggybacking); Naton v. Bank of California, 649 F.2d 691, 697 (9th Cir. 1981) (piggybacking not allowed when no charge had been timely filed and when charges did not put Secretary of Labor and defendants on notice "that the discrimination charges encompassed a pattern of unlawful conduct transcending an isolated individual claim and that they should act accordingly"); Mistretta v. Sandia Corp., 639 F.2d 588, 593-95 (10th Cir. 1980) (piggybacking permissible based on rationale of Bean v. Crocker Nat'l Bank, 600 F.2d 754 (9th Cir. 1979)); Bean v. Crocker Nat'l Bank, 600 F.2d 754, 759-760 (9th Cir. 1979) (relying on Title VII precedents, court concludes that piggybacking permissible because timely charge placed Secretary of Labor and defendant on notice of class-wide discrimination).
The Fifth Circuit in McCorstin v. United States Steel Corp., 621 F.2d 749 (5th Cir. 1980), while squarely holding that ADEA claims are governed by the opt-in provisions of section 16(b) of the FLSA, rather than the opt-out provisions of Rule 23(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, did not reach the issue of whether a notice could include other employees "if the notice embraces claims of similarly situated employees." Id. at 756.
We understand that each of these cases expresses the notification requirement somewhat differently and that some can be read as requiring that the charge expressly state that the complainant intends to represent himself and others similarly situated. However, we do not believe that such an explicit mention that a representative action is contemplated is necessary. Like the Kloos court, we believe that "[t]o be faithful to the purposes of the filing requirement, an administrative charge must allege class-wide age discrimination or claim to represent a class in order to serve as the basis for an ADEA class action under section 216(b)." 799 F.2d at 400. Such a representation will "inform and give notice to the employer that the consequences of an individual plaintiff's charge may `"transcend an insolated [sic] individual claim."'" Id. (quoting Naton, 649 F.2d at 697 (quoting Bean, 600 F.2d at 760)).
In this case at least 27 charges, 23 of which were timely, contained plain allegations of class-based discrimination. The district court specifically found that these charges notified the EEOC and Montgomery Ward that Montgomery Ward may have engaged in "systematic age discrimination." Ward III, 650 F. Supp. at 1478. We have examined the charges and there can be no doubt that many clearly alleged class-wide discrimination. Montgomery Ward certainly knew, and indeed it has admitted knowing, that it faced a class-wide ADEA suit. Under these facts, we can only conclude that all the purposes for ADEA's charge-filing requirement have been satisfied. For that reason, the district court did not err when it denied Montgomery Ward's motion to dismiss the seven appellees who did not file timely EEOC charges.
This contention is without merit for two reasons. First, we do not believe that it was necessary for the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to plead a representative action. Every court of appeals that has addressed the issue has held, under Title VII, that plaintiffs who have not timely filed a charge can rely on the timely charge of another plaintiff in a class action or in a multiple plaintiff joint action. See, e.g., Snell v. Suffolk County, 782 F.2d 1094, 1100-02 (2d Cir. 1986); Jackson v. Seaboard Coast Line R.R., 678 F.2d 992, 1011-12 (11th Cir. 1982); Allen v. United States Steel Corp., 665 F.2d 689, 695 (5th Cir. 1982); Foster v. Gueory, 655 F.2d 1319, 1322-23 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Allen v. Amalgamated Transit Union, 554 F.2d 876, 879, 882-83 n. 9 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 891, 98 S.Ct. 266, 54 L.Ed.2d 176 (1977). Although we earlier said that Title VII is not always the model for ADEA, particularly in matters of litigation procedure, we see no reason why a claimant should be able to rely on another claimant's charge in a representative action but not in a joint action. Under ADEA, there is no such thing as a class action. Rather, ADEA only allows representative actions, a procedure that more closely resembles a multiple plaintiff joint action than it resembles a class action. In a representative action, every plaintiff, named or unnamed, must notify the court of his willingness to participate in, and be bound by, the litigation. Thus, as in a joint action, a defendant in a representative action is on notice of every claimant against whom it must defend.
Even if the plaintiffs did need to amend their complaint so that the seven appellees could remain in this litigation, the district court properly allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint even though the statute of limitations had expired. Rule 15(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows the date of an amended pleading to relate back to the date of the original pleading if the claim asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the same "conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading. . . ." Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c). Montgomery Ward submits that this rule is not applicable here because the plaintiffs' amended complaint added new parties. We cannot agree. All of the appellees have been parties to this litigation for several years. The defendants have deposed many of the appellees; they have known about their claims; and they have actively defended against their allegations. We cannot say that the district court erred when it allowed the appellees to amend their complaint to plead a representative action. See generally Paskuly v. Marshall Filed Co., 646 F.2d 1210, 1211 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 863, 102 S.Ct. 321, 70 L.Ed.2d 162 (1981) (class claims related back to time of original pleading); Staren v. American Nat'l Bank, 529 F.2d 1257, 1263 (7th Cir. 1976) (substitution of parties not significant when change was purely formal).
Montgomery Ward raises one final argument. It suggests that the statute of limitations has expired on the plaintiffs' claims in a representative action because the plaintiffs did not file written consents with the district court to participate in a representative action. As we have noted, however, the plaintiffs did not need to amend their complaint into a representative action; there was thus no need for the plaintiffs to file written consents with the district court to participate in a representative action. Moreover, based on Allen v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 724 F.2d 1131, 1135 (5th Cir. 1984), Morelock v. NCR Corp. 586 F.2d 1096, 1103 (6th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 906, 99 S.Ct. 1995, 60 L.Ed.2d 375 (1979), and LaChapelle v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 513 F.2d 286, 289 n. 10 (5th Cir. 1975), the requirement that plaintiffs in a representative action file a written consent with the district court applies only to those parties who are not named as plaintiffs in the complaint. As the court said in Allen: "We conclude that parties named in a suit, who have hired a lawyer to file a complaint on their behalf, have clearly indicated their consent to suit. The statute does not require additional time-and-resource-consuming filings." 724 F.2d at 1135. In the present case, all of the plaintiffs are named in the complaint; they have hired an attorney; and they have actively participated in the litigation. ADEA does not then require that these plaintiffs file a routine written consent whose only purpose is to notify the court and the defendants that the plaintiffs agree to participate in the lawsuit.

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