Court Opinion

ID: 9460317
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:47:15.876074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:34.334642
License: Public Domain

GARTH, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion. However, I do not agree that merely because 29 U.S.C. § 633(b) of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (hereinafter “ADEA”) is similar in language to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (hereinafter “Title VII”), they are necessarily subject to the same construction. The various dissimilarities between the two Acts (and in particular the presence of § 633(a)1 in ADEA, which has no counterpart in Title VII) impel me to the conclusion that there is no requirement that a plaintiff must first attempt to utilize available state remedies before filing suit under the 1967 Act.
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b) establishes the steps to be taken by a complainant before the filing of a Title VII suit. These procedures should be compared with 29 U.S.C. § 626(b) (not § 633(b) —the statute at issue here) which prescribes the jurisdictional prerequisites for filing suit under ADEA.
By contrast, 29 U.S.C. § 633, the statute with which we are here concerned, does not deal with jurisdictional prerequisites for instituting suit, but rather is concerned with Federal and State relationship. Thus, even though the language of § 633(b) is similar to that of § 2000e-5(b), its purpose and thrust is different, and in my opinion does not require resort to state courts prior to the filing of suit under ADEA.
Section 633(b) provides inter alia “. . .no suit may be brought under § 626 of this title [29] before the expiration of sixty days after proceedings have been commenced under the State law, unless such proceedings have been earlier terminated. . . . ” The Secretary of Labor in its amicus brief asserts that “. . . the limitation upon the right to file suit under the [ADEA] applies only if proceedings have already been initiated under existing State law. There is no requirement [in this language], however, that such State proceedings must first be initiated — i. e., that a complaint be made to the appropriate State agency — before suit may be filed under the [Federal ADEA].”
In support of that construction the Secretary of Labor asserts that the sole-Congressional purpose underlying the enactment of 29 U.S.C. § 633(b) was to *18give the State time to act on a complaint if an aggrieved individual chose to proceed there first. (That choice might well be made by a complainant if a State affords a greater remedy against age discrimination or imposes prohibitions against age discrimination greater or stricter than those provided under Federal law.2)
The construction given this statute by the Secretary of Labor is persuasive, and as it is that agency which is charged with the administration of ADEA, it should be given great deference, Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 792, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1964).
I do not believe that it was the intent of Congress to require, prior to the institution of a Federal action, the commencement of a State proceeding which, under § 633(b), need not be concluded and which in any event would be superseded by the filing of the Federal action under § 633(a).

. § 633(a) provides:
“Nothing in this chapter shall affect the jurisdiction of any agency of any State performing like functions with regard to discriminatory employment practices on account of age except that upon commencement of action under this chapter such action shall supersede any State action.”

. Former Labor Secretary W. Willard Wirtz has stated that the preservation of the jurisdiction of State agencies in § 14 [29 U.S.C. § 633] will allow such agencies to impose prohibitions against age discrimination in employment stricter than those provided under the Federal law. Hearings on S830 Before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, U. S. Senate, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 1967, page 48.