Opinion ID: 1092278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Timeliness of Charges

Text: In order to preserve an ADEA action, a plaintiff must file administrative charges of discrimination with the EEOC within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful practice occurred. 29 U.S.C. § 626(d)(1) (1982). Appellants were each reduced to part-time status on November 3, 1980, and did not file EEOC charges until late May 1981, more than 200 days later. A & P argues that the appellants' claims were time barred for failure to satisfy the requirement of the statute. Appellants contend that the reduction to part-time status constitutes a continuing violation for purposes of tolling the running of the 180-day period. Although no reported cases involving ADEA have considered the issue, a number of cases considering the similar 180-day requirement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (1982), have reached this question. The United States Courts of Appeals for the old Fifth Circuit and the new Eleventh Circuit have adopted Title VII cases as precedent for ADEA cases. Coke v. General Adjustment Bureau, Inc., 640 F.2d 584 (5th Cir. 1981) (en banc). See also, Anderson v. Savage Laboratories, Inc., 675 F.2d 1221 (11th Cir. 1982). Title VII cases expressly recognize the concept of a continuing violation. In Clark v. Olinkraft, Inc., 556 F.2d 1219, 1222 (5th Cir.1977), the court recognized that the failure to promote a plaintiff is a continuing violation which tolls the time for filing. Because the management assigned varying hours to the appellants from week to week, appellants contend that each periodic decision by management constituted a continuation of the original decision. We agree. Appellants' continued involvement as part-time employees makes this case distinguishable from those cases where the failure to hire does not constitute a continuing violation. See, e.g., East v. Romine, Inc., 518 F.2d 332 (5th Cir.1975). The weekly assignment of hours by A & P's Parkview management constituted continuous maintenance of allegedly illegal employment practices, extending the time for filing charges until 180 days after the last occurrence. Downey v. Southern Natural Gas Co., 649 F.2d 302, 304 (5th Cir. 1981); Gonzales v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 610 F.2d 241, 249 (5th Cir.1980). A & P further argues that appellants failed to file timely administrative charges regarding their retaliatory discharge complaints. Appellants amended their original complaints in court to allege they had been fired in retaliation for filing ADEA charges and simultaneously filed amendments with the EEOC, more than 180 days after the discharge. An additional EEOC filing was unnecessary; the right to judicial relief for the retaliation charge grew out of the first action. See, Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 576 F.2d 1157 (5th Cir.1978) (court impliedly allowed additional damages from on-going discrimination without additional EEOC filings). We find that appellants timely filed charges with the EEOC.