Opinion ID: 65521
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hostile-Work-Environment

Text: Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment based upon race or color. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16(a). “A federal employee must pursue and exhaust her administrative remedies as a jurisdictional prerequisite to filing a Title VII action.” Crawford v. Babbitt, 186 F.3d 1322, 1326 (11th Cir. 1999). Federal sector employees who believe that they have been subject to discrimination must initiate contact with an EEOC counselor within 45 days of the effective date of a personnel action. See 29 C.F.R. § 1614.105(a)(1). An agency, however, “shall extend the 45-day time limit in paragraph (a)(1) of this section when the individual shows that . . . he or she did not know and reasonably should not have known that the discriminatory matter or personnel action occurred.” Id. 3 § 1614.105(a)(2). An agency shall dismiss a complaint that fails to comply with the time limits in § 1614.105. Id. § 1614.107(a)(2). A federal employee’s failure to follow these administrative procedures is grounds for dismissal. See Crawford, 186 F.3d at 1326-27. The record here demonstrates that the 45-day period for contacting an EEOC counselor based on the supervisor’s racial comment began in August or September of 2004. The latest date by which Thomas was required to initiate contact with an EEOC counselor was November 14, 2004, making Thomas’s contact with an EEOC counselor on January 20, 2005, untimely. Therefore, we conclude that the VA was entitled to summary judgment on Thomas’s hostile work environment claim.