Supreme Court: Employers Must Timely Raise Affirmative Defenses Involving Administrative Exhaustion Under Title VII

Osazenoriuwa Ebose published a client alert assessing the impact of Fort Bend County v. Davis, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the charge filing requirement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is not a “jurisdictional” bar to litigation, but instead is a claim-processing rule subject to waiver if the defendant-employer fails to raise an affirmative defense. The Court’s decision means employer’s counsel should be diligent in assessing whether the plaintiff has followed the Title VII requirement to identify the basis of the alleged discrimination in a charge of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Otherwise, employers risk waiving this important procedural defense in litigation.

Click here to read the full alert.