Stevens v. Department of Treasury, 500 U.S. 1 (1991)
Stevens v. Department of Treasury, 500 U.S. 1 (1991)
Stevens v. Department of Treasury, 500 U.S. 1 (1991)
1
111 S.Ct. 1562
114 L.Ed.2d 1
Syllabus
On April 27, 1987, petitioner Stevens, who was in his 60's, was subjected
to an adverse personnel action by his employer, the Internal Revenue
Service. Believing that he had been the victim of age discrimination, he
attempted to invoke his agency's administrative procedure for resolving
such claims in September 1987, long after the expiration of the applicable
time period set forth in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) regulations. On October 19, he filed a formal administrative
complaint of age discrimination with the Department of the Treasury,
concluding with a notice of his intention to sue if the matter was not
satisfactorily resolved. The complaint was rejected because of the
untimeliness of his initial attempt to obtain relief, and the EEOC's Office
of Review and Appeals affirmed. On May 3, 1988, Stevens filed a
complaint against the Department and its Secretary in the District Court,
which dismissed the case with prejudice, concludingthat it was "without
jurisdiction" to apply the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
(ADEA) in the circumstances. Noting that a federal employee has two
alternative avenues of relief under the ADEA, the court reasoned (1) that
Stevens had not satisfied the requirements for proceeding directly to
federal court under 29 U.S.C. 633a(d), which, the court declared,
mandated that he "initiate an action no later than 180 days from the
unlawful action and notify the EEOC within 30 days prior to commencing
suit," and (2) that his attempted administrative procedure had not properly
been invoked because of untimeliness, whereas, having chosen the
administrative route under 633a(b), he was required to exhaust his
administrative remedies before bringing suit. The Court of Appeals
declared that, under 633a(d), Stevens had to file a notice of intent to sue
within 180 days of the allegedly discriminatory action but did not have to
initiate his federal suit within that period. Nevertheless, the court affirmed
the dismissal of his complaint on the ground that, since he had not
initiated his suit until May 3, 1988, his October 19, 1987, notice to the
EEOC was not effective.
Held:
1. Stevens' civil action was timely under 633a. Pp. 5-8.
(a) Stevens clearly met the requirements of 633a(d), which calls for a
notice of "not less than" 30 days to the EEOC of an intent to sue (not
notification within 30 days), and provides that the "notice shall be filed"
within 180 days of the alleged unlawful practice (not filed within 180 days
of the notice). Here, the EEOCwhich accepts a notice given to the
employing agency as sufficient compliance with the statutory notice
requirementwas notified on October 19, 1987, the 176th day after the
alleged discriminatory action of April 27, 1987. And suit was not filed
until May 3, 1988, a date more than 30 days after the notice was given.
Pp. 5-7.
(b) There is no discernible basis for concluding that the suit was not filed
within the applicable limitations period. Since the statute does not
expressly impose any additional limitations period for a complaint, it must
be assumed that Congress intended to impose an appropriate period
borrowed either from a state statute or from an analogous federal one. It
need not be decided here which limitations period is applicable to
633a(c) civil actions, since Stevens filed his suit only one year and six
days after the allegedly discriminatory event. As respondents
acknowledge, that is well within whatever statute of limitations might
apply. Pp. 7-8.
(c) The timeliness issue is properly before this Court, since the District
Court heard the case on the merits, and the Court of Appeals in its turn
specifically referred to Stevens' notice of intention to file a civil suit and
answered the timeliness question incorrectly. P. 8.
2. This Court will not address the question whether Stevens, having filed
an administrative complaint, was required to exhaust his administrative
remedies before filing a civil action, since the Government, in direct
contradiction of its position before the Court of Appeals, now fully agrees
with Stevens that exhaustion is not required. Pp. 8-11.
On May 3, 1988, petitioner filed pro se his complaint against the Department of
the Treasury and its Secretary in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas. Id., at 2. At an ensuing hearing, petitioner was
represented by counsel. The defense moved to dismiss the action on the ground
that petitioner had failed to establish any basis for tolling the 30-day period. Id.,
at 22. The District Court granted the motion and dismissed the case with
prejudice. App. to Pet. for Cert. A-1. It noted: "[A]n employee who believes
that he has been discriminated against because of age has two avenues of relief
under the ADEA": he either "may proceed directly to federal court and initiate
an action no later than 180 days from the unlawful action and notify the EEOC
within 30 days prior to commencing suit," id., at A-3, citing 29 U.S.C.
633a(d), or he "may file an administrative complaint with the employing federal
agency and appeal an adverse finding to the" EEOC, in which case he "may
bring a federal civil action only after exhausting his administrative remedies,"
App. to Pet. for Cert. A-3, citing 29 U.S.C. 633a(b). The court reasoned that
the alternative administrative procedure, which petitioner had attempted, had
not properly been invoked because of the untimeliness of Stevens' complaint
and the absence of a satisfactory explanation for the delay. The court therefore
concluded that it was "without jurisdiction" to apply the ADEA "to the
circumstances of Stevens' demotion in April, 1987." App. to Pet. for Cert. A-3
to A-4.
Petitioner appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In an unpublished per curiam opinion, that court disagreed with the District
Court's statement that the employee could go directly to federal court "no later
than 180 days from the unlawful action." It said that Stevens had to file a notice
of intent to sue within 180 days of the allegedly discriminatory action but that
he did not have to initiate his federal suit within that period. Id., at A-7. The
court went on to say: "However, Stevens did not initiate the present action in
federal court until May [3], 1988[;] therefore Stevens' notice to the EEOC, of
October 19, 1987 was not effective." Ibid. The court concluded: "Although the
district court did not state the applicable law correctly, ultimately the correct
result was reached since Stevens failed to meet the requirements set forth in 29
U.S.C. 633a(d)." Id., at A-8. The District Court's dismissal was affirmed. Judgt.
order reported at 897 F.2d 526 (1990).
federal statute. 498 U.S. 957, 111 S.Ct. 383, 112 L.Ed.2d 394 (1990).
II
7
As the District Court noted in its opinion, App. to Pet. for Cert. A-3, 15 of the
ADEA provides two alternative routes for pursuing a claim of age
discrimination. An individual may invoke the EEOC's administrative process
and then file a civil action in federal district court if he is not satisfied with his
administrative remedies. See 29 U.S.C. 633a(b) and (c). A federal employee
complaining of age discrimination, however, does not have to seek relief from
his employing agency or the EEOC at all. He can decide to present the merits
of his claim to a federal court in the first instance. See 633a(d). Both routes to
court are implicated in this case. We address the direct route first.
"When the individual has not filed a complaint concerning age discrimination
with the Commission, no civil action may be commenced by any individual
under this section until the individual has given the Commission not less than
thirty days' notice of an intent to file such action. Such notice shall be filed
within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful practice
occurred." (Emphasis added.)
10
The District Court obviously misread this statute when it said that the federal
employee "may proceed directly to federal court and initiate an action no later
than 180 days from the unlawful action and notify the EEOC within 30 days
prior to commencing suit." App. to Pet. for Cert. A-3 (emphasis added). The
court thus imposed a requirement that the federal court action be instituted
within the 180-day period and an additional requirement that the EEOC be
notified within 30 days prior to the commencement of the suit. But the statute
reads otherwise as to both requirements. It calls for a notice of not less than 30
days to the Commission of an intent to sue (not notification within 30 days),
and it provides that the notice shall be filed with the Commission within 180
days of the alleged unlawful practice (not filed within 180 days of the notice).
Clearly, petitioner Stevens met both requirements. The EEOC was notified on
October 19, 1987, the 176th day after the alleged discriminatory action
petitioner's transfer and demotion of April 27, 1987had occurred.1 And suit
was not filed until May 3, 1988, a date more than 30 days after the notice was
given.
11
The Court of Appeals corrected one of the District Court's two errors:
12
"Contrary to what the district court stated, Stevens had to file a notice of intent
to sue with the EEOC within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory action.
Stevens did not have to initiate his federal action within 180 days of the alleged
action, but merely give notice to the EEOC of his intention to initiate a civil
action." Id., at A-7.
13
But the Court of Appeals then added the sentence already noted: "However,
Stevens did not initiate the present action in federal court until May 4, 1988[;]
therefore Stevens' notice to the EEOC, of October 19, 1987 was not effective."
This enigmatic sentence surely implies, even if it does not say so directly, that
the court was not in disagreement with the District Court's second errorthat
the federal litigation had to be commenced within 30 days of the notice, instead
of after 30 days from the notice. We note, at this point, that the District Court's
and Court of Appeals' error in their reading of the statute has also been
replicated by two other courts. See Castro v. United States, 775 F.2d 399, 403
(CA1 1985); McKinney v. Dole, 246 U.S.App.D.C. 376, 387, 765 F.2d 1129,
1140 (1985). The applicable regulations are positive as to the absence of such a
"within 30 days" requirement under the ADEA, in marked contrast with the
situation concerning the assertion of a Title VII claim. See 29 CFR 1613.514
(1990). Respondents concede all this, for they say that "the statute is clear."
Brief for Respondents 29.
14
There is no foundation that we can discern for any conclusion that the suit was
not filed within the applicable period of limitations. The statute does not
expressly impose any additional limitations period for a complaint of age
discrimination. We therefore assume, as we have before, that Congress
intended to impose an appropriate period borrowed either from a state statute or
from an analogous federal one. Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff &
Associates, Inc., 483 U.S. 143, 146-148, 107 S.Ct. 2759, 2762-63, 97 L.Ed.2d
121 (1987). In this case, we need not decide which limitations period is
applicable to a civil action under 29 U.S.C. 633a(c). Stevens filed his suit on
May 3, 1988, only one year and six days after the allegedly discriminatory
event of April 27, 1987. That, as respondents acknowledge, Brief for
Respondents 30, "is well within whatever statute of limitations might apply to
the action."2
III
15
The Solicitor General, however, submits that the petition for certiorari should
be dismissed as having been improvidently granted. Id., at 31. He rests this
submission on the argument that petitioner did not properly present the merits
of the timeliness issue to the Court of Appeals, and that this Court should not
address that question for the first time. Id., at 8-9, 11-15. He made the same
argument in his opposition to the petition for certiorari. Brief in Opposition 5-7.
We rejected that argument in granting certiorari, and we reject it again now
because the Court of Appeals, like the District Court before it, decided the
substantive issue presented.
16
The District Court heard the case on the merits. Tr. 83-176. The Court of
Appeals in its turn specifically referred to Stevens' notice of intention to file a
civil suit, App. to Pet. for Cert. A-7, and, as we have explained, answered the
timeliness question incorrectly. We thus are satisfied that the issue is properly
before us.
IV
17
18
19
"If an employee files an administrative claim with his agency, the employee
must properly exhaust his administrative remedies like employees alleging
other types of discrimination. . . .
20
.....
21
"It is well established that a federal employee must timely exhaust any
administrative remedies available to him before he can bring suit. . . .
Therefore, Judge Bunton properly dismissed Mr. Stevens' cause of action
because Mr. Stevens did not meet the administrative requirements." Brief for
Appellees in No. 89-1432 (CA5), pp. 6-7.
22
Respondents, of course, acknowledge this, Tr. of Oral Arg. 17, and concede that
they indeed "took a different position," id., at 22. They candidly say that "we
have reconsidered our position." Id., at 33.
23
It is all well and good for respondents to rethink their position. Their choice,
however, has meant that on the merits there is no one before us who stands in a
position adverse to petitioner. Neither is there anyone before us who defends
the results reached in those decided cases where Courts of Appeals have found
an exhaustion requirement when administrative relief is sought before a court
action is instituted. See, e.g., McGinty v. United States Department of the Army,
900 F.2d 1114 (CA7 1990); Castro v. United States, 775 F.2d 399 (CA1 1985);
Purtill v. Harris, supra. Those cases stand in conflict with the Sixth Circuit's
decision in Langford v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, supra.
24
In each of these cited cases, the United States put forward the exhaustion
requirement. We must assume, in view of the Solicitor General's concession
here, that the Government no longer will defend its earlier litigation position.
25
26
Meanwhile, to be sure, the rulings in McGinty, Castro, and Purtill, and any
other ruling to the same effect will remain outstanding and in conflict with
Langford. There is little or nothing, by way of disagreement or agreement with
those cases, that this Court should do in the present litigation. The cases may be
respectively challenged or supported by some future litigant in a way that will
lead to a definitive resolution of the existing conflict in authority. If this does
not come about, then, because of the Government's change of mind and new
position, any legal significance of the conflict may simply fade away with the
passage of time.
27
28
29
While I join the remainder of the Court's opinion, I disagree with Part IV. In my
view, the Government is quite right in its present position that the statute
contains no requirement that a federal employee exhaust administrative
remedies before instituting a court action. The case is not moot, because the
Government's position as petitioner's former employer is adverse to petitioner.
The adversary posture that the Court finds lacking as to the exhaustion issue is
equally lacking as to the issue that the Court does decide. Compare ante, at 910, with ante, at 7-8. Moreover, because 29 U.S.C. 633a, the statutory
provision at issue, applies only to federal employees, the adversary posture the
Court awaits will never arise unless the Government once again reverses its
position.
30
31
The only language of the ADEA relied on by those Courts of Appeals that have
required exhaustion is the omission from 633a of a provision like that in Title
VII allowing an employee to abandon the administrative complaint route if
there has been no administrative action within 180 days.* This provision,
Indeed, when Stevens formally was advised of his right to sue, he was told: "
[Y]ou MAY have up to six years after the right of action first accrued in which
to file a civil action." This was a reference to the general statute of limitations,
28 U.S.C. 2401(a), for a civil action against the Government. See Brief for
Respondents 30, n. 22.
See Purtill v. Harris, 658 F.2d 134, 138 (CA3 1981), cert. denied, 462 U.S.
1131, 103 S.Ct. 3110, 77 L.Ed.2d 1365 (1983); Castro v. United States, 775
F.2d 399, 404 (CA1 1985); Rivera v. United States Postal Service, 830 F.2d
1037, 1039 (CA9 1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1009, 108 S.Ct. 1737, 100
L.Ed.2d 200 (1988); Bornholdt v. Brady, 869 F.2d 57, 63 (CA2 1989); White v.
Frank, 895 F.2d 243, 244 (CA5), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 890, 111 S.Ct. 232, 112
L.Ed.2d 192 (1990); McGinty v. United States Department of Army, 900 F.2d
1114, 1117 (CA7 1990).