Court Opinion

ID: 9461173
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:07:47.603815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:55.873220
License: Public Domain

MOORE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent.
The main question in this case is whether section 706(f)(1) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, [42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) (1)] imposes a 180-day durational limit on the right of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to institute judicial proceedings for the redress of allegedly unlawful employment discrimina*618tion. The issue has caused a split in judicial opinion which is perhaps sharper than usual, indicating that the often elusive Congressional intent is in this case particularly obscure. In terms of sheer numbers, the weight of judicial authority holds that section 706(f)(1) sets no time limitation on the right of the Commission to sue.1 Fortunately, however, it is the persuasiveness of judicial reasoning and not the force of numbers which is of prime importance in our system. And although the question is admittedly not entirely clear, I am personally convinced that those courts holding that section 706(f)(1) does indeed impose a 180-day limit have properly interpreted the statute.
As the majority acknowledges, it is possible to cite portions of the legislative history which support either position.2 Thus, I do not feel that this referent is particularly helpful in this instance. Rather, the language of section 706(f)(1) must be read and interpreted with a view toward the broad Congressional purposes underlying Title VII — that prompt, efficient methods be enacted and utilized to eradicate racial and sex discrimination in employment. See, e. g., EEOC v. General Dynamics Corp., No. CA 4-74-54, 382 F.Supp. 59 (N.D.Tex., 1974). In my view, affording the Commission a right to sue which is without a definite limit is anathema to that goal.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently summarized the procedure established by the 1972 amendments to Title VII and particularly by section 706(f) (1).
1. A charge must be filed within 180 days after the occurrence of an alleged unlawful employment practice.
2. If the Commission finds reasonable cause to believe that the charge is true, and conciliation attempts prove unsuccessful, the Commission may bring suit against the respondent within 180 days of the filing of the charge. The charging party shall have the right to intervene in the Commission’s suit.
3. If the Commission fails to file an action within 180 days, it shall notify the charging party.
4. Within 90 days after receipt of notice, the charging party may bring a civil action against the respondent. Should a private action be brought, the Commission may intervene, in the discretion of the court, upon certification that the case is of general public importance.
EEOC v. Missouri Pacific R. R., 493 F.2d 71, 74 (8th Cir. 1974). On its face this is an orderly procedure which for 30 days gives the Commission an opportunity to investigate and seek conciliation, for 150 additional days affords the Commission the right to sue while at the same time seeking an accommodation with the employer, and finally, after 180 days, grants the aggrieved individual a right of action for 90 days. Yet the Commission asserts that its authority to sue continues beyond the 180-day mark when the private right of action accrues. Reading the statute otherwise would, according to the Commission, unduly hamper the performance of its task, since 180 days is insufficient time to negotiate with the alleged violator. Moreover, the necessity of filing a suit to meet the 180-day deadline would assertedly interfere with conciliation efforts.
There is no doubt that Congress was well aware of both the average time necessary to process complaints and of the backlog which was confronting the Commission at the time of the 1972 *619amendments.3 But to conclude that Congress could therefore not have intended to impose a time limit on the Commission seems to me erroneous.4 A stronger inference is that Congress intended to expedite the administrative process and to eliminate the interminable delays which had previously been the rule. The entire thrust of section 706(f)(1) is toward increased efficiency. Starting with the filing of the charge, Congress set up a timetable — 30 days for pure conciliation, 180 days for further negotiations before a right to sue letter issues to the private individual, 90 days in which the aggrieved party can bring suit. Congress clearly contemplated that the conciliation process would begin almost immediately and that serious efforts would be made before the individual was given the right to sue privately. To hold that the Commission has an open-ended period in which it may bring an action seems calculated to encourage delays and to undermine conciliation efforts. It is well-known that an imminent deadline, and in particular the pen-dency of a lawsuit, is apt to make even the most hard-line bargainers soften their position. Thus, a 180-day limit on the Commission’s right to sue seems likely to promote settlements. And merely because the 180th day comes and a suit is filed does not mean that talks must terminate. Nothing prohibits the settlement of a pending lawsuit, and in fact section 706(f)(1) explicitly refers to the possibility of settlement by giving the district court discretion to stay proceedings for 60 days while the Commission makes further efforts to achieve voluntary compliance.
Further supporting a reading of the statute which imposes a 180-day limit on the Commission is avoidance of duplica-tive lawsuits. If the Commission’s right to bring judicial proceedings is not cut off when the right of the individual starts, there is a significant chance that two lawsuits will be pending which deal with substantially identical issues.5 Various courts have dealt with this problem 6 and solutions other than reading the statute as imposing 180-day limit are available. It would be possible to hold, for example, that the Commission’s right to sue terminates only when an individual actually starts proceedings. The Commission itself has suggested that it may not bring an action during the 90-day period in which the aggrieved individual has the right to sue, but that its right revives upon the expiration of the 90-day period if the individual has taken no action.7 Either of these alternatives tortures the language of the statute when a simple, straightforward *620reading obviates the necessity of making such semantic contortions.
I do not dispute that the 1972 amendments made the Commission the prime enforcer of Title VII rights, but a 180-day limit seems in no way inconsistent with that goal. The Commission is given first crack at enforcement for a period of six months. And even when the right of action accrues to the individual, the Commission retains a limited right of intervention when a ease is of public importance. This role is undeniably substantial, and I am not convinced that Congress intended to enlarge it by granting an unlimited right to sue, for this right will, I believe, tend to undercut the effectiveness of the Commission as the first line of enforcement.
Accordingly, I would affirm the dismissal of the suit.

. See oases cited in footnote 1 of the majority opinion.

. See EEOC v. Union Oil Co. of California, 369 F.Supp. 579, 580-584 (N.D.Ala.1974), where the court summarized the arguments, pro and con, regarding the 180-day limit and cited pertinent portions of the legislative history.

. See House Report No. 92-238, 92cl Cong. 1st Sess. 3-5, 12 (1971), Senate Report No. 92-415, 92d Cong. 1st Sess. 5-6, 87 (1971) ; 1972 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2137, 2139-2143.

. Apparently no court has yet dealt with the problem of whether suits based on charges already pending before the Commission for over 180 days at the time of the 1972 amendments are foreclosed. This case does not present the issue, since the charge here was filed after the amendments. In view of the fact that the amendments were made applicable to already pending cases, however, it would not be an unreasonable position that in these cases the 180-day period began running from the date of the amendments and not the date of filing of the charges.

. It is clear that when Congress was considering the alternative course of giving the EEOC power to issue cease and desist orders, avoidance of duplicative proceedings was of major concern. E. g., House Report No. 92-238, 92d Cong. 1st Sess. (1971), U. S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1972, p. 2137. Although the same concern does not appear expressly after the cease and desist proposal was dropped in favor of allowing the Commission to seek pretrial enforcement, there is no reason why the problem of duplicative proceedings is just as significant when they are botii judicial in nature.

. See EEOC v. Missouri Pac. R. R., 493 F.2d 71 (8th Cir. 1974); EEOC v. Huttig Sash & Door Co., 371 F.Supp. 848 (S.D.Ala.1974); EEOC v. Cronin, 370 F.Supp. 579 (E.D.Mo.1973); EEOC v. Union Oil Co. of California, 369 F.Supp. 579 (N.D.Ala. 1974).

. EEOC v. Cleveland Mills Co., 364 F.Supp. 1235, 1238 (W.D.N.C.1973), rev’d., No. 73-2298, 502 F.2d 153 (4th Cir. 1974).