Opinion ID: 399438
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District court authority to declare EEOC delay a dismissal of the reconsideration request.

Text: 6 The district court relied on sections 555(b) and 706(1) of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 555(b) and 706(1) (1976 and Supp. III 1979), as authority for its ruling that EEOC delay in responding to the VA reconsideration request amounted to a dismissal of the request. Section 555(b) of the APA provides that (w)ith due regard for the convenience and necessity of the parties or their representatives and within a reasonable time, each agency shall proceed to conclude a matter presented to it. Section 706(1) grants the district court power to compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed .... Read together, the two sections provide that even though agency action may be subject to no explicit time limit, a court may compel an agency to act within a reasonable time. See EEOC v. Liberty Loan Corp., 584 F.2d 853, 855-56 & n. 5 (8th Cir. 1978); EEOC v. Exchange Security Bank, 529 F.2d 1214, 1216 (5th Cir. 1976); Chromcraft Corp. v. EEOC, 465 F.2d 745 (5th Cir. 1972). See generally Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. v. Costle, 657 F.2d 275, 283-84 & nn. 30, 31 (D.C.Cir.1981). A court may also dismiss agency action unreasonably delayed. See EEOC v. Exchange Security Bank, 529 F.2d at 1216; accord EEOC v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 450 F.Supp. 792, 795 (E.D.Mo.1978), aff'd in part and reversed in part on other grounds, 592 F.2d 484 (8th Cir. 1979). Nothing in the federal employment provisions of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16 (1976), or its legislative history, see H.R.Rep.No. 238, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 2137, 2157-60, 2167, suggests a reason to excuse the EEOC, from compliance with the requirements of the APA where a federal employee is involved. Accordingly, we hold that the APA provided the district court with authority to declare EEOC delay a dismissal of the VA reconsideration request. 7