Court Opinion

ID: 9469213
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:35:18.470361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:17.151833
License: Public Domain

POOLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I cannot concur in the majority opinion because I believe that the outcome here is controlled by our previous decision in Cleveland v. Douglas Aircraft Co., 509 F.2d 1027 (9th Cir. 1975).
In Cleveland the EEOC issued a Notice of Right to Sue Letter prior to completion of its administrative investigation. After this court’s decision in Cunningham v. Litton Industries, 413 F.2d 887, 890 (9th Cir. 1969), the Commission informed appellant that he should ignore the first letter, and it issued a subsequent Notice of Right to Sue Letter after completing its investigation. In discussing the effect of the second letter, the court unequivocally stated:
The EEOC had no statutory authority to issue such a letter and therefore the 30-day period must be deemed to run from the issuance of the first letter. 509 F.2d at 1030
Accordingly, the court affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff’s action since he failed to sue within 30 (now 90) days of his receipt of the first letter.
The outcome of that case did not hinge, as the majority suggests, on whether the second letter was issued pursuant to an authorized reconsideration of the Commission’s reasonable cause determination. Instead, the court expressed its general concern that the EEOC should not be permitted to preempt a “congressionally mandated period of limitation in favor of a hodgepodge of ad hoc determinations by the EEOC.” 509 F.2d at 1030. That same concern is equally applicable here since the EEOC’s withdrawal of an earlier right to sue letter pursuant to a reconsideration of its earlier decision presents the same threat of effectively nullifying the 90 day limitation period.
I recognize the competing policy expressed in Gonzalez v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 610 F.2d 241, 246 (5th Cir. 1980), and Trujillo v. General Electric Co., 621 F.2d 1084, 1086 (10th Cir. 1980), that the EEOC should not be hindered from seeking administrative resolution of such claims. However, given the clear impact of our holding in Cleveland, this issue is simply not now open and cannot be avoided by reliance upon an agency regulation.