Opinion ID: 2975473
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Timeliness of Claim

Text: Deters’ sexual harassment claims are based on the hostile work environment allegedly created by her supervisor Chuck Wuchter from November 1999, when he commenced work at the Fairfield plant, until January 15, 2003, when he was discharged. As a first reason for granting defendant Rock-Tenn’s motion for summary judgment, the district court summarily concluded that Deters’ sexual harassment claims are time-barred because she failed to comply with Title VII’s requirement that her EEOC charge be filed within the requisite time period after an alleged unlawful employment practice occurred. The governing time period in this case is 300 days, under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e). Deters maintains that her EEOC charge, filed on October 1, 2003, was timely filed because she suffered continuing harassment from Wuchter in December 2002 and January 2003, less than 300 days prior to the filing of her charge. Although Deters has not identified any particular incident of harassment during December 2002 and January 2003, her deposition testimony and other record - 10 - No. 06-4356 Deters v. Rock-Tenn Co. evidence indicate that Wuchter’s sex talk was pervasive, “a daily, daily, daily thing.” Deters dep. p. 143, JA 587. That Deters continued to perceive the workplace as a hostile environment during the last two months of Wuchter’s employment is also substantiated by e-mail memos sent by Deters and Webber to Smith on December 9, 2002, and January 6, 2003, respectively, JA 788, 789. Inasmuch as Deters did not expressly state her objection to Wuchter, and neither Flanagan nor Smith advised Wuchter of Deters’ complaint or the pending investigation, there is no reason to believe that Wuchter’s “daily” boorish behavior suddenly abated during the last month of his employment. Viewing the record in the light most favorable to Deters, it is sufficient to give rise to a genuine fact issue regarding the timeliness of Deters’ EEOC charge. The district court’s unexplained and unwarranted reliance on the untimeliness of the charge as a basis for summary judgment is erroneous.