The Fourth Circuit recently issued a significant ruling in Thomas v. EOTech, LLC, holding that private employers cannot contractually "speed up" the expiration of the time limit to seek federal administrative and judicial redress under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). The court joined the Sixth Circuit in concluding that enforcing such agreements would disrupt the "carefully integrated and uniform remedial schemes" established by Congress.
In the case, Plaintiff, a former employee of EOTech, signed an agreement as a condition of employment promising not to file any suit relating to her employment more than 180 calendar days after the disputed event. The agreement specifically noted that this 180-day period would be tolled while a charge was pending with an administrative agency, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). After she was terminated, she filed charges of discrimination with the EEOC and the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. After receiving a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC and after 196 days had passed excluding tolling, she brought claims in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for violations of Title VII, the ADEA, and the Maryland Fair Employment Practice Act.
The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment on the Title VII and ADEA claims. Because Title VII and the ADEA provide a longer combined statutory window (typically at...
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