Court Opinion

ID: 9475476
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:28:22.549275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:44.240912
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The court correctly observes that:
The federal courts have continued to struggle with the time limitations for filing a Title VII charge in deferral states. The frequency with which the courts confront this issue implies that complainants in deferral states who have failed to file a charge within 180 days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred are confused with respect to the applicable time limitations.
Maj.Op. at 585. The court also recognizes that claimants, too, often experience confusion as to the applicable time limitations. Id. at 585. The frequent litigation and the confusion of claimants demonstrate to me not that claimants or their lawyers are ignorant, but rather that the statutory provisions are indisputably ambiguous. Congress’ concern in enacting the deferral provisions was to encourage state and local agencies to resolve discrimination problems at the local level. Congress did not intent to confuse parties who claimed to be victims of discrimination, and Congress clearly did not intend the burden of these statutory ambiguities to fall on these parties. Rather, Congress meant to liberalize the availability of redress for employment discrimination by providing two forums for the protection of victims. I do not believe that the ambiguity ■ should be resolved by creating a trap for the unwary, as I believe the court has done in this case, or by creating a split in the circuits, thereby further intensifying the struggle and the confusion. I therefore must respectfully dissent.
The First Circuit in Isaac v. Harvard University, 769 F.2d 817 (1st Cir.1985), wrote a definitive opinion dealing with the timeliness issue. I believe their analysis is correct and do not find it necessary to repeat that analysis here. However, I do wish to emphasize two points. First, there can be no doubt that the statutory provision is ambiguous. Not only has the First Circuit in Isaac thoroughly demonstrated this, id. at 820-24, but the court here has also implicitly attested to the ambiguity by recitation of the continuing struggle in the litigated cases. Maj.Op. at 585. An abstract analysis of the meaning of the word “terminate” does not on its face remove the demonstrated ambiguity in the statute. Furthermore, the complexity of state involvement and activity suggests that one may not perfunctorily assign a meaning to the word “terminate” in this context. Even the majority found it necessary to interpret the word “terminate” to mean “unequivocally terminate [the state’s] authority,” adding words to the statute in order to reach its conclusion that the statute is unambiguous. Id. at 586, 587. The weight of experience and careful analysis support the conclusion that the statute is itself ambiguous.
Second, the agency involved in this case has interpreted the statute, and we are required to give deference to that interpre*592tation when the statute is ambiguous. See, e.g., Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984) (court’s function when Congress is silent is only to determine whether the agency interpretation is a permissible construction of the statute); Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association v. Watt, 696 F.2d 734 (10th Cir.1983) (court must defer to agency interpretation when statute is ambiguous). Since the EEOC’s interpretation of the statute is clearly rational and consistent with the statute’s purpose, we should defer to that interpretation. This was the final anchor in the First Circuit’s argument.
While it is true that the First Circuit’s interpretation would extend the filing time for some claimants, legislative history gives no indication that Congress intended otherwise. Indeed, as the majority seems to indicate, one of Congress’ purpose in this enactment was to encourage effective state action. Maj.Op. at 587. But Congress did not intend thereby to deprive victims of discrimination access to the EEOC and to federal enforcement mechanisms. Nor is there any indication that Congress, in order to implement its purpose, intended to hold slavishly to the original 180-day provision. Such an intention would create a trap for claimants who take full advantage of state provisions before turning to the EEOC, which is their continuing right under the statute. One would have to attribute either congressional hostility to discrimination claimants or a lack of congressional concern for the inability of laypeople to understand this complex statute to suggest it intended such a result.
Even if the word “terminate” may have a clear meaning in isolation, this case amply demonstrates that it does not have a clear meaning in this context. How the claimant, or for that matter the attorney for the claimant, could know that the state agency’s correspondence was not a “termination” of state proceedings is beyond me. In any event, since the EEOC statute in general, and these provisions in particular, are remedial, Congress clearly intended doubts to be resolved in favor of claimants. The First Circuit’s construction of the statute in Isaac is fully consistent with those notions. It is not only possible but particularly likely that Congress’ dual purpose was to encourage states to resolve discrimination problems and to liberally protect the interests of victims of discrimination. These purposes are best served by construing doubts about timely filing in favor of claimants.
I would therefore reverse and join the First Circuit and all the district courts that have ruled on this issue except the Northern District of New York and the trial court in the instant case. See Isaac, 769 F.2d at 827-28; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ocean City Police Department, 617 F.Supp. 1133 (D.Md. 1985), aff'd on other grounds, 787 F.2d 955 (4th Cir.1986); Thompson v. International Association of Machinists, 580 F.Supp. 662 (D.D.C.1984); Douglas v. Red Carpet Corp. of America, 538 F.Supp. 1135 (E.D. Pa.1982); Gunn v. Dow Chemical Co., 522 F.Supp. 1172 (S.D.Ind.1981); Yeung v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., 504 F.Supp. 422 (N.D.Cal.1980); Cattell v. Bob Frensley Ford, Inc., 505 F.Supp. 617 (M.D. Tenn.1980); Morgan v. Sharon Pennsylvania Board of Education, 445 F.Supp. 142 (W.D.Pa.1978). But see Klausner v. Southern Oil Co., 533 F.Supp. 1335 (N.D. N.Y.1982) (waiver of initial processing by state under worksharing agreement did not amount to a “termination” of state proceedings). Even if one had doubts about the ambiguity analysis, it does not seem to me that clarification or protection of victims of discrimination can be served by splitting the circuits. At the very minimum, the decisions of the First Circuit and nearly all of the district courts plus the decision of the agency involved (the EEOC) are clearly rational and not inconsistent with either congressional language or manifest purpose. I would reverse the district court’s decision.