Opinion ID: 584572
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Like or reasonably related

Text: 22 Western-Southern properly notes, As a general rule, Title VII plaintiffs cannot bring claims in a lawsuit that were not included in their EEOC charge. Appellant's Br. at 22. In Jenkins v. Blue Cross Mutual Hospital Insurance, Inc., 538 F.2d 164 (7th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 986, 97 S.Ct. 506, 50 L.Ed.2d 598 (1976), this court adopted the standard that the Fifth Circuit had set forth in Danner v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 447 F.2d 159, 162 (5th Cir.1971): 23 The correct rule to follow in construing EEOC charges for purposes of delineating the proper scope of a subsequent judicial inquiry is that 'the complaint in the civil action ... may properly encompass any ... discrimination like or reasonably related to the allegations of the charge and growing out of such allegations.'  24 Jenkins, 538 F.2d at 167 (quoting Danner ). The reason behind this requirement is to give the EEOC  'an opportunity to settle disputes through conference, conciliation, and persuasion before the aggrieved party [is] permitted to file a lawsuit,'  Babrocky v. Jewel Food Co., 773 F.2d 857, 863 (7th Cir.1985) (quoting Alexander v. Gardener-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 44, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1017, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974)), as well as to put defendants on notice of the substance of the charge. Schnellbaecher v. Baskin Clothing Co., 887 F.2d 124, 127 (7th Cir.1989) ([T]he reason behind the requirement that allegations not contained in an EEOC charge cannot be contained in the complaint is that the defendant must have notice of the charge, and the EEOC must have the opportunity to investigate and conciliate the charge, in order to attempt to obtain voluntary compliance with Title VII.). See also Rush v. McDonald's Corp., 966 F.2d 1104, 1110 (7th Cir.1992). 25 Nevertheless, Jenkins does not require a Title VII plaintiff to allege in an EEOC charge each and every fact that combines to form the basis of each claim. Indeed, this court has been charitable in applying the Jenkins standard because it recognizes that most EEOC complaints are completed by laypersons rather than lawyers. 26 [T]he Civil Rights Act is designed to protect those who are least able to help themselves. Complainants to the EEOC are seldom lawyers. To compel the charging party to specifically articulate in a charge filed with the Commission the full panoply of discrimination which he may have suffered may cause the very persons Title VII was designed to protect to lose that protection because they are ignorant of or unable to thoroughly describe the discriminatory practices to which they are subjected.... 27 Jenkins, 538 F.2d at 168 (quoting Willis v. Chicago Extruded Metals Co., 375 F.Supp. 362, 365-66 (N.D.Ill.1974)). This court has held that Title VII is to be construed and applied broadly, and that [a] single charge may 'launch a full scale inquiry'  into racial discrimination. Motorola, Inc. v. McLain, 484 F.2d 1339, 1344, 1346 (7th Cir.1973) (quoting Jenkins v. United Gas Corp., 400 F.2d 28, 33 (5th Cir.1968)), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 936, 94 S.Ct. 1935, 40 L.Ed.2d 287 (1974); Babrocky, 773 F.2d at 864 (The standard is a liberal one in order to effectuate the remedial purposes of Title VII, which itself depends on lay persons, often unschooled, to enforce its provisions.); see also Rush, 966 F.2d at 1111. 28 Mr. Taylor's EEOC charge referred only to specific events which took place in the East St. Louis office in and after November 1985. 3 The issue under Jenkins is whether the discriminatory acts in the Peoria office involving Jack O'Neal--which the court clearly relied upon in concluding that Mr. Taylor was confronted with an aggravated situation beyond ordinary discrimination 4 --are like or reasonably related to the allegations of the charge and growing out of such allegations to be properly included in the lawsuit. 29 Mr. Taylor contends that the events in Peoria are reasonably related to the events in East St. Louis for two reasons. First, Mr. Taylor points to the actions of divisional vice president Douglas, who was Taylor's ultimate supervisor at both the Peoria office and the East St. Louis office. Appellee's Br. at 31-32. Douglas responded to Jack O'Neal's discrimination against Mr. Taylor in Peoria by transferring Mr. Taylor to East St. Louis. Douglas, who also happens to be a black man, told Mr. Taylor that the move to East St. Louis was a good opportunity and that the staff was all black. When Mr. Taylor tried to transfer back to Peoria after O'Neal left that office, Douglas blocked the transfer. Douglas also told Mr. Taylor that there might be a problem transferring to the Alton office as a sales manager because the staff was all white. On more than one occasion Douglas told Mr. Taylor that Mr. Taylor's interracial marriage would impede his advancement. Thus, Mr. Taylor argues, the events in Peoria involving Douglas are reasonably related to the events in East St. Louis involving Douglas. 30 Second, Mr. Taylor contends that the events in Peoria are reasonably related to the events in East St. Louis because the Peoria discrimination contributed to the pattern of discrimination which, after the events in East St. Louis, caused him reasonably to conclude that he was compelled to resign. While Mr. Taylor was not seeking recovery for the specific acts of discrimination which occurred in Peoria in 1982, he sought to establish the fact that those acts occurred in order to support the reasonableness, in East St. Louis in 1987, of his feeling compelled to resign. 31 Western-Southern argues that when the district court looked this far back and beyond the scope of the EEOC charge, it erroneously applied the continuing violation theory of race discrimination. Appellant's Br. at 26. But the continuing violation analysis to which Western-Southern refers is utilized only in the context of a challenge to the timeliness of a cause of action. See, e.g., Davidson v. Indiana-American Water Works, 953 F.2d 1058, 1060 (7th Cir.1992); Young v. Will County Dep't of Public Aid, 882 F.2d 290, 292 (7th Cir.1989). Because Western-Southern never challenged the timeliness of Mr. Taylor's Title VII claim, the court had no reason to consider the continuing violation theory of tolling. Rather, the court was considering whether the evidence supported Mr. Taylor's theory that a continuing pattern of discrimination existed as background to justify his decision to resign. 32 We agree with the district court that Mr. Taylor could properly offer evidence concerning events not included in the EEOC charge--specifically the acts of Jack O'Neal and Charles Douglas in the Peoria office--as background evidence in order to meet his burden of proving that he was reasonable in concluding that he was compelled to resign. The discrimination that occurred in Peoria is sufficiently like or reasonably related to the discrimination in East St. Louis to be introduced for this purpose. We do not intend by this holding to suggest that the Peoria events were sufficiently related to the East St. Louis events to allow Mr. Taylor to have brought suit and sought relief on separate discrimination charges for the events in Peoria. Mr. Taylor is seeking relief only for the ultimate actions which occurred in East St. Louis and were the subject of his EEOC charge. We hold only that the earlier events are sufficiently related to the later events to allow Mr. Taylor to utilize them as background facts to meet his burden of proof that he was reasonable in interpreting the later events as discriminatory and compelling him to resign. 33