Opinion ID: 745429
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: MHRA Claim

Text: 9 When a complaint is not filed within 180 days, the Missouri Commission on Human Rights lacks jurisdiction to conduct any proceedings and the claim is barred. See Mo. Ann. Stat. § 213.075; Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. v. Comm'n on Human Rights, 863 S.W.2d 682, 684 (Mo.Ct.App.1993). To meet this jurisdictional requirement, a complaint must be verified and must set forth the particulars of the claim. Mo. Ann. Stat. § 213.075(1). The Missouri Commission and the EEOC have a work-share agreement, and a complaint filed with the EEOC is considered to be filed with the Missouri Commission on the same date. Id. § 213.075(2). 10 The district court correctly found it lacked jurisdiction to consider Hill's MHRA claims. She resigned from her position at SLU on December 3, 1993, but did not file her verified complaint with the EEOC (and thus, constructively, with the Missouri Commission) until June 9, 1994. Because her complaint was filed after the 180-day statutory period had expired, the district court had no jurisdiction to consider her MHRA claims. 11 Hill strenuously argues that equitable estoppel should apply because someone working for the EEOC misinformed her, leading her to file her complaint too late for purposes of the MHRA. Because the Missouri courts have held that the 180-day filing deadline is jurisdictional, however, the doctrine of equitable estoppel is inapplicable. Hill's citation to numerous cases applying equitable estoppel and waiver in the ADEA and Title VII contexts is unhelpful, because unlike the MHRA, the filing deadlines for those federal statutes are not jurisdictional. Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 392-93, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 1131-32, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982) (holding that the filing deadline under Title VII is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling); Anderson v. Unisys Corp., 47 F.3d 302, 305-06 (8th Cir.) (stating that the filing deadline for an ADEA claim was not jurisdictional and therefore subject to equitable tolling and estoppel), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 299, 133 L.Ed.2d 205 (1995). Moreover, the Intake Questionnaire that Hill completed, though filed within the 180-day period, does not suffice as a complaint, because this preliminary document was not verified and did not set out the particulars of Hill's complaint. See Mo. Ann. Stat. § 213.075(1); Hodges v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 990 F.2d 1030 (8th Cir.1993). In short, whether or not someone in the EEOC misinformed Hill, her estoppel argument fails under the MHRA because an equitable doctrine simply cannot overcome a jurisdictional bar. We therefore hold that Hill's claim under the MHRA is barred for failure to file a complaint with the Missouri Commission or the EEOC within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act.