Opinion ID: 76635
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Bost Plaintiffs

Text: 17 Bost and eight non-filing employees, Clausnitzer, Freeman, Kuenning, Majors, Natalina, Bosley, Costianes, and Chester, base their ADEA claims on an EEOC charge filed by Bost. The Bost plaintiffs either are current employees, as is Bost, or were terminated after the filing of Bost's charge of discrimination. If Bost's charge of discrimination was premature, the other plaintiffs cannot piggyback on his charge. 18 The district court dismissed the ADEA claims of the Bost plaintiffs as premature because the suit was filed on May 9, 2002, nearly a month before Bost filed his formal EEOC charge on June 5, 2002. The Bost plaintiffs contend that Bost's EEOC charge was filed on December 18, 2001, when Bost filed an intake questionnaire and affidavit. The Bost plaintiffs argue that Bost's charge was not premature because he filed the intake questionnaire and affidavit five months before the commencement of this suit. 19 In evaluating the argument of the Bost plaintiffs, we are guided by three of our precedents. This Court first considered whether an intake questionnaire constitutes an EEOC charge in Clark. In Clark, the plaintiff contacted the EEOC after his termination and inquired about the appropriate procedures for filing a charge of discrimination. Id. at 1239. The EEOC sent Clark an intake questionnaire that he completed and returned 152 days after his termination. Id. After receiving the questionnaire, the EEOC sent a notice of a charge of discrimination to his employer. Id. Clark then signed a formal charge prepared by the EEOC 202 days after his termination. Id. at 1239-40. The employer argued that because the formal charge was not filed within the required 180 days, Clark's claims were barred. Id. at 1240. Clark argued, however, that his intake questionnaire satisfied the filing requirement of 29 U.S.C. § 626(d)(1). Id. 20 This Court agreed with Clark and held that his informal intake questionnaire fulfilled all of the objectives desired by Congress because it was in writing and described the action which Clark believed to be discriminatory. Id. at 1241. This Court concluded that the EEOC treated Clark's intake questionnaire as a charge. The EEOC notified the defendant of the alleged discrimination after receipt of the intake questionnaire, but before completion of the formal charge. Id. at 1240-41. 21 This Court next addressed whether an intake questionnaire served as a charge in Pijnenburg v. West Georgia Health System, Inc., 255 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir.2001). Pijnenburg sued her employer for sex discrimination and retaliation. Id. at 1305. She completed an Interview Questions for Employment Discrimination form and filed it with the EEOC within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. Id. The form was not sworn. Id. 22 This Court held that as a general matter an intake questionnaire is not intended to function as a charge for purposes of the statute of limitations, and this Court concluded that Pijnenburg's questionnaire was not an exception to that general rule. Id. at 1307. This Court reasoned that, unlike the filing of the questionnaire, a charge, in addition to triggering the running of the statute of limitations, serves the following two functions: (1) notification to the employer that a discrimination charge has been filed with the EEOC; and (2) initiation of the EEOC investigation of the complaint. Id. at 1306. The Pijnenburg court concluded that the filing of Pijnenburg's intake questionnaire did not satisfy either of these two functions, and the treatment of her questionnaire as a charge would have thwarted these two objectives. Id. 23 Most recently, this Court held that a verified intake questionnaire that included the basic information suggested by the EEOC may constitute a charge for purposes of the statute of limitations when the circumstances of the case would convince a reasonable person that the charging party manifested her intent to activate the administrative process. Wilkerson v. Grinnell Corp., 270 F.3d 1314, 1321 (11th Cir.2001). Those exceptional circumstances were present in that appeal. This Court cautioned, however, that it would not treat intake questionnaires willy-nilly as charges. Id. at 1320. 24 In holding that the intake questionnaire satisfied the requirements of an EEOC charge, the Wilkerson Court considered the following three factors: (1) the communication between the plaintiff and the EEOC; (2) the EEOC intake questionnaire form itself; and (3) the response by the EEOC to the completed questionnaire. Id. at 1320-21. As to the first factor, Wilkerson contacted the EEOC multiple times regarding her charge, and she received misleading information from the EEOC. Id. at 1320. Second, the questionnaire form itself stated that it could be a charge. Id. at 1320-21. Finally, after some prodding by the plaintiff, the EEOC treated her questionnaire as a charge and issued a belated notice of the charge to her employer. Id. at 1321. In those exceptional circumstances, we held that Wilkerson's intake questionnaire satisfied the requirements of a charge, which allowed Wilkerson to proceed with her complaint. Id. 25 The facts of this case differ significantly from these earlier cases. Unlike in Clark, the EEOC did not treat Bost's intake questionnaire as a charge of discrimination. There is no evidence in the record that the EEOC did anything in response to Bost's intake questionnaire and affidavit. The EEOC did not send a notice of a charge to FedEx, as it did in Clark. Instead, the EEOC sent notice of a charge of discrimination only after Bost filed his formal charge in June 2002. The record reveals no evidence that the EEOC considered the questionnaire to be a charge of discrimination. 26 This case lacks the exceptional circumstances relied on by the Wilkerson Court in concluding that the intake questionnaire in that case was a charge. There is no evidence that Bost manifested an intent to activate the administrative process by filing his intake questionnaire with the EEOC, as Wilkerson required. The undisputed evidence instead shows the opposite; Bost clearly understood that the intake questionnaire was not a charge because he later filed a timely charge. If Bost believed that he had filed a charge of discrimination when he filed the intake questionnaire, he would not have filed an additional timely charge of discrimination. Bost's conduct shows that he did not intend to activate the administrative process until he filed his formal charge of discrimination. 27 Unlike the series of statements made by the EEOC to the plaintiff in Wilkerson, there is no evidence of any misleading communication between Bost and the EEOC. Bost has not alleged that he contacted the EEOC to inquire about his alleged charge nor that the EEOC instructed him in any way about his intake questionnaire. The EEOC notified FedEx of Bost's charge and then issued Bost a right-to-sue letter only after Bost filed his formal charge. 28 Finally, the questionnaire form itself did not suggest that it was a charge. The Privacy Act Statement at the end of the intake questionnaire instead stated that the questionnaire was not the equivalent of a charge of discrimination. The Privacy Statement described the form as a means to decide whether the EEOC has jurisdiction over potential charges and to provide pre-charge filing counseling. These descriptions suggest to a reasonable reader that the questionnaire was not a charge. 29 Thus, Bost's intake questionnaire did not satisfy the requirements of a charge of discrimination. We reiterate that an intake questionnaire is not intended to function as a charge. Pijnenburg, 255 F.3d at 1307. This Court will not treat intake questionnaires willy-nilly as charges. Wilkerson, 270 F.3d at 1320. 30 Bost should have waited the required 60 days after he filed his formal charge of discrimination to file his lawsuit. He also could have filed suit within 90 days of receiving his notice of a right to sue from the EEOC. Instead, Bost filed his lawsuit before either of these events and impermissibly bypassed the administrative process. As a result, the ADEA claims of the Bost plaintiffs fail.