Opinion ID: 380460
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jurisdiction to Hear the Claim

Text: 33 The appellant argues here that the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the claim of hiring discrimination because the EEOC charge referred only to discrimination with respect to promotion. Relying on the opinions in United Airlines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977) and McArthur v. Southern Airways, Inc., 569 F.2d 276 (5th Cir. 1978), General maintains that this Court's holding in Sanchez v. Standard Brands, Inc., 431 F.2d 455 (5th Cir. 1970), that a court could take jurisdiction of claims which are reasonably related to the EEOC charge, must be reexamined. The Company also argues that the EEOC investigation and determination concerning hiring were beyond its jurisdiction. In Sanchez, this Court said: 34 (T)he civil action is much more intimately related to the EEOC investigation than to the words of the charge which originally triggered the investigation. Within this statutory scheme, it is only logical to limit the permissible scope of the civil action to the scope of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination. 35 431 F.2d at 466. Thus in Sanchez, this Court endorsed a liberal standard for requirements relating to the relationship between the charge, the investigation, and a civil suit. 36 The two cases cited by the appellant do not question this standard. In United Airlines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977), the Supreme Court held that a stewardess who had failed to complain of her discriminatory discharge was barred from later contending that she was discriminated against after being rehired based on the employer's failure to include her prior employment in determining her seniority. The court held that she was time-barred from complaining of the prior illegal discharge because she had not complained at the proper time. In McArthur v. Southern Airways, Inc., 569 F.2d 276 (5th Cir. 1978), this Court followed Evans by dismissing as time-barred a cause of action somewhat similar to the one in Evans. We find it difficult to see the relevance of these decisions to the issue here. 37 The question we face is whether an EEOC complaint of promotion discrimination is sufficiently related to a hiring discrimination claim to allow the EEOC to investigate both and therefore authorize a suit based on both charges. In Gamble v. Birmingham So. Railroad Co., 514 F.2d 678 (5th Cir. 1975), this Court defined the reasonable expectation test of Sanchez again as hinging on whether the broader EEOC investigation might be expected to grow from the original complaint. Id. at 688. 38 Some courts have interpreted the standard of Sanchez to mean that any practice which is an outgrowth of the same basis of discrimination can be challenged in the court suit. See Graniteville Co. v. EEOC, 438 F.2d 32, 41-42 (4th Cir. 1971) (discrimination in promotion related to discrimination in hiring); McBride v. Delta Airlines, 551 F.2d 113, 115 (6th Cir.), vacated on other grounds 434 U.S. 916, 98 S.Ct. 387, 54 L.Ed.2d 273 (1977) (individual firing charge requires review of any racially discriminatory practices because of large and complex corporate structure). Cf. Arey v. Providence Hospital, 55 F.R.D. 62, 67 (D.D.C.1972) ((i)t seems clear that once having received the complaint of discrimination against complainant the EEOC would as a reasonable matter, extend their investigations to all areas of employment in which the complainant at one time or another had been exposed, including, of course, the facts and circumstances surrounding the initiation of her employment.) This Court in EEOC v. Huttig Sash & Door Co., 511 F.2d 453 (5th Cir. 1975) held that a charge of discrimination in termination will support another claim of discrimination in hiring. Other courts have held that the fact that EEOC ended up investigating a broader charge than the one alleged is a strong reason to allow the issue to be raised in a court suit. Henderson v. First National Bank of Montgomery, 344 F.Supp. 1373 (M.D.Ala.1972); Cf. Oubichon v. North American Rockwell Corporation, 482 F.2d 569 (9th Cir. 1973); Note, Developments in the Law Employment Discrimination and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 84 Harv.L.Rev. 1109, 1216-18 (1971). 39 We find that the district court had jurisdiction over both the hiring and promotion claims under the Sanchez standard. This Court's traditional application of a liberal standard in this area is a reflection of our understanding about the realities of Title VII litigation. Often the complainants are poor and uneducated. They are unfamiliar with legal concepts and often do not comprehend the specific elements of their complaint. But they understand the basic premise of the Act. They feel that they have been discriminated against on the basis of race or some other impermissible factor. To hold these individuals to a high standard of knowledge about the bases of their charge would ill-serve the remedial purpose of Title VII. In this case, it is sufficient that Falcon alleged the type of discrimination (national origin), especially since an investigation of promotional practices almost inevitably leads to a study of hiring practices, and the EEOC did investigate both areas. EEOC v. Huttig Sash & Door Co., 511 F.2d (5th Cir. 1975).