Federal Express Corp. V. Holowecki

Federal Express Corp. V. Holowecki

Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki

No. 06-1322, 2008 WL 508018

Supreme Court of the United States

February 27, 2008

OVERVIEW: This case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on November 6, 2007 and decided on February 27, 2008, addressed what is a proper filing of an employment discrimination complaint with theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”).Because similarprocedures apply for filing employment discrimination complaints under the ADAand the Civil Rights Act, the disability community has monitored this case for its possible impact on the ADA Title I complaint process.Nonetheless, the enforcement mechanisms and statutory waiting periods for ADEA claims do differ from the ADA.In thisdecision, theSupreme Court narrowly construed (i.e., specifically stated the decision should only apply) to the ADEA, and not be precedent for ADA Title I orCivil Rights Act Title VII cases.

FACTS OF THE CASE: Current and formerFederal Express (“FedEx”) courier employees, all at least 40 years of age, sued their employer for engaging in employment practices and procedures that discriminated on the basis of age in violation of theADEA and the New York State Human rights Law.They complained that the company’s policies, such as “Best Practice Pays” (BPP) and “Minimum Acceptable Performance Standards” (MAPS), were implemented so as to encourage older employees to leave the company before retirement age.

The plaintiff’s alleged that the BPP and MAPS programs originallywere designed to increase performance goals, but later evolved into age discriminatory practices. Specifically, the programs allegedly encouraged supervisors to establish a set number of stops that could be achieved in an hour. Achieving those goals would result in enhanced pay for one pay period. The plaintiffs alleged that soon after goals were established for some of the younger employeestheybecame the minimum number of stops all couriers, both young and old, were expected to make. The plaintiffs said that the amount of stops reasonably achieved by younger couriers were far higher than the rate that could be achieved by an older courier; however older couriers were still requiredto meet those goals in order to keep their jobs. Failure to meet those goals resulted in disciplinary action, whichsometimes included termination andconstructive discharge of older couriers when approaching retirement eligibility.

CASE HISTORY:The District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the action as time barred because plaintiff Patricia Kennedy did not file an officialEEOC charge form 60 days prior to filing herADEA complaint in federal court.Instead she submitted a questionnaire form and accompanying affidavit to the EEOC, which outlined her complaint, yetcontained the same information required by the official form. Furthermore,the court stated that she did not receive a right to sue letter from the EEOC, which is required before filing a district court action.

The plaintiffs appealed and the Second Circuit Court of Appealsreversed the District Court’s decision. The Court of Appeals stated that although the ADEA requires the filing of a timely EEOC charge, the EEOC does not define the term “charge.” The Court of Appeals constructed its own interpretation of “charge” to include Ms. Kennedy’s Intake Questionnaire and attached affidavit.The court indicated this interpretation of an EEOC “charge” fulfills the ADEA’s statutory scheme of providing the EEOC with notice of complaints, thereby giving the EEOC an opportunity to eliminate possible discriminatory practices without court intervention. Specifically, the Court of Appeals held that the questionnaire constituted an EEOC “charge” because (1) the content satisfied the ADEA’s requirements of what must be included in a charge, and (2) the questionnaire demonstrated the plaintiff’s intent to initiate the EEOC’s administrative process.

The Court of Appeals concluded it was irrelevant that the plaintiff’s EEOC charge was not submitted on an official EEOC charge form because her informal method provided the same information required by the ADEA. The required information included an allegation that FedEx violated the ADEA by engaging in actions that discriminated against Ms. Kennedy and other plaintiffs because of their age. Also required, the questionnaire and affidavit constituted a “writing” that named the employer and described alleged discriminatory acts, including theBPP and MAPS programs.Finally, the content of the questionnaire was evidence that Ms. Kennedy intended to activate the administrative process.

Additionally, the Court of Appeals determined that Kennedy’s sole EEOC charge was sufficient to allow the other eleven named plaintiffs, who did not file their own EEOC charges, to satisfy the ADEA’s exhaustion requirement via the “piggybacking” rule. According to that rule, “where one plaintiff has filed a timely EEOC complaint, other non-filing plaintiffs may join in the action if their individual claims aris[e] out of similar discriminatory treatment in the same time frame.”

FedEx appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted a writ of certiorari to accept the case for review. The parties presented their oral arguments before the Supreme Court on November 6, 2007.

ISSUE IN THE CASE: Whether the plaintiff’s questionnaire and affidavit constituted an EEOC “charge” under the ADEA.

ORAL ARGUMENTS:FedEx argued for dismissal of the plaintiff’s lawsuit, and that the plaintiffs must fill out a formal charge form with the EEOC and wait 60 days before filing a suit in federal court. Additionally, FedEx argued that once the EEOC charge is filed then FedEx will be put on notice as required by the ADEA, thereby giving them time to find resolution with the plaintiffs before a lawsuit is filed. FedEx argued this procedure is more effective than conciliation after lawyers are involved and a lawsuit is pending.

Chief Justice Roberts and JusticesSouter, Ginsburg, Scalia and Breyer seemed confused by these suggestions, stating that it was unfair and inefficient todismiss the case, require the plaintiffs pay a new filing fee, anddocket the lawsuit a second time after another 60 days. The Justices admitted it was somewhat unfair to FedEx that the EEOC did not put them on notice.However, they suggested it may be more unfair to make the plaintiffs pay for EEOC’s mistakeof not putting FedEx on notice by dismissing their case.

Instead of dismissing the case altogether, some of the Justices suggested that perhaps the plaintiffs should be granted a stay (i.e., a court order to suspend all or part of a judicial proceeding),or the lawsuit should be dismissed ‘without prejudice’ (so the claims can be re-filed). FedEx agreed to the proposal of dismissal without prejudice.

Supreme Court Decision: The Supreme Court issued its final ruling on February 27, 2008. In a 7-2 decision, the Majority opinion, written by JusticeKennedy, with Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts concurring, affirmed the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision. Justices Thomas and Scalia dissented (disagreed with the majority opinion).

The Majoritydetermined that an employee must file “a charge alleging unlawful [age] discrimination” with the EEOC in order to trigger the ADEA’s enforcement mechanisms and statutory waiting periods before a lawsuit can be filed. However, because the EEOC did not define a“charge,” Ms. Kennedy’s questionnaire form and accompanying affidavit to the EEOC could be considered a “charge.”Additionally, the Court stated that a filing could be deemed a “charge” “if the document reasonably [could] be construed to request agency action and appropriate relief on the employee’s behalf.”

The Court held that Ms. Kennedy’s questionnaire contained all necessary information required by the EEOC official charge form. Furthermore, the accompanying six-page affidavit stating,“[p]lease force Federal Express to end their age discrimination plan so we can finish out our careers absent the unfairness and hostile work environment created within their application of Best Practice/High-Velocity Culture Change,”was a sufficientrequest for the agency to act. The Court added that ifMs. Kennedyhad not filed the accompanying affidavit, the questionnaire alone likely would not constitute a charge.

Policy Practice:This decision is narrowly applied to the ADEA. Moreover, the Majority opinion recommended that the EEOC make revisions to its charge-filing process to avoid unnecessary future disputes. As such, filing a questionnaire and supporting affidavit, in place of an official charge as Ms. Kennedy did, may be sufficient to qualify as a charge of ADEA discrimination, but it may not be wise to rely on this procedure in light of likely revisions.

LINKS:

February 27, 2008 Supreme Court Opinion:

November 6, 2007 Supreme Court Oral Argument Transcript:

Second Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion:

Prepared by the legal research staff of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI): Centers of Innovation on Disability at SyracuseUniversity ( for the DBTAC: SoutheastADACenter (Southeast DBTAC) ( This document does not provide legal advice. If you have further questions about the issues of this case that relate to you, please consult an attorney licensed in your state.