Careful! Don’t Fall Asleep at the Wheel: Supreme Court Holds Title VII Exhaustion Requirement Is Waivable by Employers

On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII’s administrative exhaustion requirement is not a jurisdictional predicate for litigation and that an employer who fails to raise this defense has waived it.

In a Title VII case, employees alleging discrimination are required to administratively exhaust their claim, or in other words, file an EEOC charge prior to initiating a lawsuit.  The employee must typically wait until after the EEOC, or state agency, has reviewed the complaint and issued a right to sue letter before filing suit.  The timeframe for filing suit is 300 days after the EEOC issues a right to sue letter or 30 days after the state’s determination, whichever is earlier.

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