Opinion ID: 774950
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rodriguez failed timely to exhaust his administrative remedy.

Text: 19 We reject Rodriguez's contention that his original charge filed with the DFEH, that he was discriminated against because he was Mexican-American, should be construed to include a claim of disability discrimination. In order for his charge of discrimination against Mexican-Americans to be construed to include a claim of discrimination on the ground of disability, the disability ground would have to be like or reasonably related to the claim of race discrimination. Sandhu v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., 26 Cal. App. 4th 846, 859 (1994) (adopting standard of federal Fifth and Ninth Circuits). This standard is met where the allegations in the civil suit are within the scope of the administrative investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination. Id. Even conceding that charges must be construed with great liberality, especially when the complainant is acting pro se, see Casavantes v. California State Univ., Sacramento, 732 F.2d 1441, 1442 (9th Cir. 1984), we conclude that Rodriguez's charge of discrimination against Mexican-Americans would not reasonably trigger an investigation into discrimination on the ground of disability. The two claims involve totally different kinds of allegedly improper conduct, and investigation into one claim would not likely lead to investigation of the other. It would not be proper to expand the claim as Rodriguez asks, when the difference between the charge and the complaint is a matter of adding an entirely new basis for the alleged discrimination.  Okoli, 36 Cal. App. 4th at 1615; see also Stallcop v. Kaiser Found. Hosps., 820 F.2d 1044, 1050 (9th Cir. 1987) (holding that allegations of sex and age discrimination in civil complaint were not encompassed by charge filed with DFEH alleging only national origin discrimination). Moreover, Rodriguez's charge of ethnic discrimination was very specific, rendering it especially inappropriate to expand the civil action to include other claims. See Okali, 36 Cal. App. 4th at 1616. 20 Although Rodriguez's oral statements to the DFEH intake officer may provide an equitable excuse for failure to exhaust, as we discuss below, they do not cure the legal defects in his charge. This circuit has previously refused to consider oral statements conveyed to a DFEH investigator to determine the scope of a reasonable investigation. Stallcop, 820 F.2d at 1050. Moreover, a California court has held that neither unverified written nor oral information relayed to DFEH may substitute for a formal administrative charge. Cole v. Antelope Valley Union High Sch. Dist., 47 Cal. App. 4th 1505, 1515, 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 443 (1996). 21 We conclude, accordingly, that Rodriguez failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to his claim for disability discrimination, because that claim falls outside the scope of his timely administrative complaint alleging discrimination on the ground that he was Mexican-American. 22 2. The untimely amendment of Rodriguez's administrative complaint did not relate back to the original complaint. 23 We also reject Rodriguez's contention that the untimely amendment to his administrative complaint, which was accepted by the DFEH, related back to his original complaint and rendered the disability discrimination claim timely. 6 24 We agree with Rodriguez that the relation-back doctrine is available in appropriate circumstances to render timely an otherwise untimely amendment to a charge under FEHA. Although it is true, as Airborne contends, that DFEH is limited to the statutory authority granted to it by the Legislature, see Peralta Cmty. College Dist. v. FEHC, 52 Cal. 3d 40, 60 (1990), some incidental powers are necessarily implicit in a grant of operating authority. The Fair Employment and Housing Commission held in a precedential decision that an untimely amendment adding a sex discrimination charge related back to a timely-filed race discrimination charge, because all of the allegations were based on the same operative facts. FEHC v. County of Alameda, Sheriff's Dep't, FEHC Dec. No. 81-13, 1981 WL 30856, at  (Cal. F.E.H.C. July 2, 1981). We accord great respect to the Commission's interpretation of its authority and will follow it unless it is clearly erroneous. Judson Steel Corp. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., 22 Cal. 3d 658, 668 (1978); see also Jones v. Tracy Sch. Dist., 27 Cal. 3d 99, 107 (1980) (California courts ordinarily defer to the administrative interpretation of a statute adopted by the agency charged with its enforcement). The Commission's conclusion that the relation-back doctrine is applicable to administrative charges accords with FEHA's purpose of eliminating discrimination in employment, see Cal. Gov't Code §§ 12920, and we accept it. Cf. Peterson v. City of Wichita, 888 F.2d 1307, 1308-09 (10th Cir. 1989) (upholding regulation permitting EEOC to allow relation-back of amendments, and listing other courts in accord). 25 We do not, however, accept Rodriguez's view that the mere acceptance of an amendment by DFEH is conclusive that the amendment relates back. 7 In the several federal cases addressing relation back of amended EEOC charges, the agency's acceptance of an amended charge did not end the exhaustion analysis. In each of these cases, the court conducted its own de novo analysis of whether the amendment related back, and gave no apparent weight to the fact that the EEOC had accepted and filed the amendment. See, e.g., Fairchild, 147 F.3d at 574-76; Simms v. Oklahoma Dep't of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Serv., 165 F.3d 1321, 1325, 1326-27 (10th Cir. 1999); Evans v. Tech. Applications & Serv. Co, 80 F.3d 954, 963 (4th Cir. 1996); Sanchez v. Standard Brands, Inc., 431 F.2d 455, 458, 461-65 (5th Cir. 1970). We adopt the same approach here. 26 We come, then, to the question whether Rodriguez's amendment claiming disability discrimination may properly be related back to his original complaint alleging discrimination on the ground that Rodriguez was Mexican-American. We have been referred to no controlling precedent from the California courts. Federal circuit courts have employed various approaches in dealing with relation back of EEOC complaint amendments. Some have ruled that amendments introducing a new theory of recovery generally do not relate back. See e.g., Simms, 165 F.3d at 1326-27; Evans, 80 F.3d at 963; Pejic v. Hughes Helicopters, Inc., 840 F.2d 667, 675 (9th Cir. 1988). Other circuits, including the Fifth Circuit in a seminal case, permit relation back of new theories on the principle that the proper scope of the charge is determined by facts alleged in the original complaint, not the legal theory originally attached to those facts. See Sanchez , 431 F.2d at 463-64; Washington v. Kroger Co., 671 F.2d 1072, 1075-76 (8th Cir. 1982). Although the divergence between these views may not be as great as it seems when the facts of each case are analyzed, the approach of Sanchez is the more permissive. 27 The Fair Employment and Housing Commission, in County of Alameda, Sheriff's Dep't, 1981 WL 30856 at , appeared to adopt the Sanchez approach. We are not convinced, however, that the California courts would apply the Sanchez rule without limit. Even if the factual allegations of the original complaint, rather than the legal theory, establish the proper boundaries of the charge, the factual allegations must be able to bear the weight of the new theory added by amendment. This point is best illustrated by cases from the Seventh Circuit. Although the Seventh Circuit allowed an untimely sex discrimination charge to relate back to an original charge of race discrimination in Jenkins v. Blue Cross Mutual Hospital Insurance, Inc., 538 F.2d 164, 168-69 (7th Cir. 1976), it refused to allow a disability discrimination charge to relate back to an age discrimination charge in Fairchild v. Forma Scientific, Inc., 147 F.3d 567, 574-76 (7th Cir. 1998), because the original complaint contained no facts that would support a charge of disability discriminationabsent its direct allegation, id. at 575. The Fairchild court stated expressly that the case did not fall within the scope of Sanchez because the plaintiff had made factual allegations that could only support one kind of discrimination--discrimination based on age. Id. We conclude that this approach would be applied to Rodriguez's case by the California courts, and that Rodriguez's amendment would not be permitted to relate back. 28 Rodriguez's timely administrative complaint fails to offer an adequate factual basis to support a charge of disability discrimination, and thus fails to warrant relation back of the untimely amended charge. Rodriguez argues that a basis for alleging disability discrimination can be found in the langauge, I was told that I was terminated because of my absenteeism. (Emphasis added.) If this statement, combined with the checkmark in the box for race, constituted the extent of the original charge, Rodriguez's argument might have some merit. The original charge, however, explicitly states that Rodriguez believed his termination was due to race and that Airborne's reason for terminating him was pretextual. It elaborates that Non-Mexican-Americans who have more absences and accidents than I have were not terminated. The exclusivity of this language overshadows any notice of disability discrimination contained in the term absenteeism. This allegation of termination because of Mexican-American status is an entirely different charge from one that the employer had failed to acknowledge and accommodate a disability. This divergence is illustrated by the fact that the amended charge added several new factual allegations to support the new legal theory of disability discrimination--including allegations that Rodriguez had a mental disability, that Airborne knew he suffered from clinical depression at the time of his termination, and that Airborne failed to offer him accommodation. We therefore conclude that the specific factual allegations in Rodriguez's original charge cannot reasonably support a claim of discrimination on the basis of disability. His amendment does not relate back, and his administrative complaint of disability discrimination was therefore untimely. 8