Noel v. the Boeing Co. , 622 F.3d 266 ( 2010 )


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  •                                           PRECEDENTIAL
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
    _____________
    No. 08-3877
    _____________
    EMMANUEL NOEL,
    Appellant
    v.
    THE BOEING COMPANY
    ___________
    On Appeal from the District Court
    for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    (No. 06-cv-2673)
    District Judge: Honorable J. Curtis Joyner
    ___________
    Submitted January 26, 2010
    Before: FUENTES, FISHER, Circuit Judges, and KANE,
    District Judge *
    *
    Honorable Yvette Kane, Chief Judge of the United
    States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania,
    sitting by designation.
    -1-
    (Opinion Filed: October 1, 2010)
    Albert J. Michell, Esq.
    Albert J. Michell, PC
    510 Bainbridge Street
    First Floor
    Philadelphia, PA 19147
    Attorney for Appellant
    Thomas K. Johnson II, Esq.
    Leora F. Eisenstadt, Esq.
    Dechert LLP
    Cira Centre
    2929 Arch Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104
    Attorneys for Appellees
    OPINION OF THE COURT
    FUENTES, Circuit Judge:
    Emmanuel Noel appeals from the District Court’s grant
    of summary judgment in The Boeing Company’s favor on his
    employment discrimination claim brought under Title VII of the
    Civil Rights Act of 1964. On appeal Noel argues that the
    -2-
    recently enacted Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 renders
    his otherwise out-of-time administrative filing timely,
    preserving his failure-to-promote claim. For the following
    reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s ruling.
    I.
    A. Background
    Noel is a black Haitian national, who began working for
    Boeing in 1990 as a sheet metal assembler at its Ridely Park,
    Pennsylvania facility.1 Noel was hired at Labor Grade 5 and
    repaired Chinook 47 aircraft. The terms of Noel’s employment
    were governed by a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”)
    between Boeing and the International Union of United
    Automobile Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of
    America Local 1069, as well as internal Boeing policies.
    Boeing employees were occasionally offered an
    opportunity to work at offsite locations. Because employees
    working offsite received greater pay, per diems and additional
    training, offsite positions were coveted and individuals
    volunteered for these assignments. Any promotions and
    corresponding raises were limited to the duration of the offsite
    assignment. According to the CBA that governed Noel’s
    employment, seniority was not the only factor that Boeing
    considered when assigning workers offsite. Rather, skill and
    ability were the determining factors, and seniority was only
    considered when those factors were equal.
    1
    Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are derived
    from the District Court’s factual findings.
    -3-
    Noel took his first offsite assignment in 1991 at a Boeing
    facility in Shreveport, Louisiana; this lasted approximately six
    months. Although he sought an offsite assignment in May 2002,
    Noel was not assigned offsite again until November 2002, when
    he was designated an aircraft mechanic to work on
    modifications to the V-22 Osprey at the Bell Helicopter facility
    in Amarillo, Texas. That assignment resulted in Noel’s labor
    grade rising from 7 to 8; he also received a $57 per diem. After
    two weeks of working in Amarillo, Noel’s salary was increased
    from $26.11 per hour to $28.75 per hour.
    Around the same time, Chris Carlin and Gary Newman,
    both white employees, were also assigned to Amarillo from the
    Ridley Park facility. They too were reclassified from Labor
    Grade 7 aircraft assemblers to offsite mechanics at Labor Grade
    8. After working in Amarillo for seven months, Carlin and
    Newman were promoted to Offsite Mechanic General, Labor
    Grade 11, while Noel remained at the lower paying Grade 8. In
    September 2003, Noel complained about these promotions to a
    union representative and a Boeing labor relations representative.
    His complaints went unanswered. Noel filed a Title VII suit
    against Boeing and one of its managers alleging discrimination
    based on race and national origin. On March 25, 2005, Noel
    filed a formal grievance with the Equal Employment
    Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).
    On June 20, 2006, Noel filed a four-count Title VII
    complaint against Boeing.        He thereafter amended the
    complaint. Count I of the Amended Complaint accused Boeing
    of intentional discrimination and disparate treatment based on
    Noel’s race and national origin. Count II raised the same issue
    under the Pennsylvania Human Rights Act. Count III levied a
    -4-
    retaliation claim against Boeing, and Count IV demanded
    punitive damages. These claims were based on several specific
    incidents referenced by Noel in his complaint. Relevant to this
    appeal, Noel complained: (1) that Boeing did not send him
    offsite to Amarillo in May 2002 when white, non-Haitian
    employees who held the same job as Noel but were junior to him
    were sent offsite; and (2) in 2003, while offsite at Amarillo, he
    was promoted to Labor Grade 8 while his junior, white, U.S.-
    born co-workers were promoted to Labor Grade 11.2
    B. The District Court’s Ruling
    After a four-day bench trial, the District Court ruled in
    Boeing’s favor on all counts. The District Court first granted
    Defendant’s summary judgment motion on Noel’s claim that
    Boeing violated Title VII when it failed to send him offsite to
    Amarillo in May 2002 and when he was not promoted to offsite
    mechanic Labor Grade 11 in 2003, holding that this claim was
    time-barred since Noel did not file a charge of discrimination
    with the EEOC until March 2005, well outside the 300-day
    statutory time period.     The District Court also granted
    Defendants’ motions for Judgment on Partial Findings on Noel’s
    claim that he should have been promoted to lead mechanic upon
    his return to Ridley Park. Judgment was also awarded in
    Boeing’s favor regarding Noel’s erroneous placement on
    Boeing’s offsite list, which stymied his promotion, since
    2
    Noel’s complaint included several additional adverse
    employment actions. Because Noel does not challenge the
    District Court’s rulings regarding those claims, we find it
    unnecessary to discuss them in further detail.
    -5-
    Defendants subsequently promoted Noel and awarded him
    backpay.
    Next, the District Court granted judgment in Defendants’
    favor on Noel’s claim that race- and national origin-based
    discrimination animated Boeing’s decision not to transfer him
    to the position of offsite material handler while it did transfer
    Carlin and Newman. Although the District Court noted that
    Noel had established a prima facie case of discrimination, it
    nonetheless granted judgment in Defendants’ favor because
    Boeing successfully rebutted that case. Specifically, the District
    Court found credible Boeing’s assertion that the sole reason
    Carlin and Newman were sent offsite to work as material
    handlers was because they were the “only employees who
    directly expressed interest in and volunteered for the jobs and
    that in doing so, it followed the Collective Bargaining
    Agreement guidelines to the letter. . . . As [Noel] himself
    acknowledges, he never sought to have another job in Amarillo
    other than the one which he was then performing – mechanic.”
    (App. at 39-40.) Thus, the District Court granted judgment in
    Defendants’ favor because Noel did not “convince” it that
    Boeing’s stated reason for moving Carlin and Newman offsite
    was false and “that discrimination was the real reason for the
    decision.” (Id. at 40.)3
    3
    Though not relevant to this appeal, the District Court
    also granted judgment in Defendants’ favor on Noel’s retaliation
    and hostile work environment claims. (App. at 57.)
    -6-
    II.
    The only aspect of the District Court’s ruling that Noel
    challenges is its determination that he failed to administratively
    preserve his claim that, in 2003, Defendants failed to promote
    him to Offsite Mechanic General Labor Grade 11 in violation of
    Title VII.4 According to Noel, because of this discriminatory
    employment action, he received less pay than his white co-
    workers throughout his time at the Amarillo plant. Noel
    contends that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“FPA”)5
    makes clear that “in pay discrimination matters an unlawful
    employment practice occurs each time an individual is affected
    by application of a discriminatory compensation decision.”
    Appellant’s Br. at 8. Noel argues that the District Court erred as
    a matter of law when it granted summary judgment in
    Defendants’ favor since Boeing’s failure to promote him
    resulted in lower pay, and, therefore, each paycheck he received
    started the administrative clock anew.
    4
    We have jurisdiction over Noel’s appeal pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    , and our review of a District Court’s grant of
    summary judgment is plenary. See Mikula v. Allegheny Cnty. of
    Pa., 
    583 F.3d 181
    , 185 (3d Cir. 2009) (per curiam). Summary
    judgment is granted only if there remains no genuine issue as to
    any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as
    a matter of law. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 
    477 U.S. 317
    , 322
    (1986).
    5
    The Fair Pay Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-
    5(e)(3)(A), was signed into law on January 29, 2009 and made
    retroactive to May 28, 2007.
    -7-
    Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act makes it unlawful
    for an employer “to . . . discriminate against any individual with
    respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of
    employment . . . or . . . to limit . . . or classify his employees . .
    . in any way which would deprive . . . any individual of
    employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his
    status as an employee, because of such individual’s race . . . or
    national origin. ” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1)-(2). Before filing
    a claim in federal court, a Title VII plaintiff in Pennsylvania
    must file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC within 300
    days of the alleged unlawful employment practice. See Mikula,
    
    583 F.3d at 183
    ; 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1). If a claimant fails
    to exhaust his or her claim within the requisite time period, that
    claim is administratively barred. This statute of limitations
    applies to discrete employment actions, including promotion
    decisions. See Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 
    536 U.S. 101
    , 114 (2002).
    Here, the adverse employment actions Noel complained
    of occurred between July and September 2003. Because Noel
    did not file his EEOC charge until March 25, 2005, well after
    the 300-day time period expired, the District Court ruled that
    any claims of discrimination stemming from the 2003
    employment decisions were barred as a matter of law.
    Nevertheless, Noel argues that the FPA revives his claim since
    each paycheck he received during the requisite time period
    started the administrative clock ticking anew.
    Congress passed the FPA in response to the Supreme
    Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.,
    Inc., which held that “pay-setting” was a discrete act and
    therefore the period for filing an EEOC claim commences when
    -8-
    the unlawful act occurs. 
    550 U.S. 618
    , 621 (2007), superseded,
    in part, by statute, Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-2, 42
    U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(3), as recognized in Mikula, 
    583 F.3d at 183-84, 186
    . Ledbetter worked for Goodyear from 1979 until
    1998; she introduced evidence at trial that throughout her
    employment, Goodyear supervisors evaluated her poorly
    because of her sex, resulting in lower pay than if her evaluations
    had been discrimination-free. Id. at 621-22. She further proved
    that the discriminatory pay decisions negatively affected her pay
    throughout the course of her employment, resulting in a salary
    that was significantly lower than that of her male peers. Id. at
    622. Although a jury found in Ledbetter’s favor and awarded
    her backpay and damages, the Supreme Court affirmed the
    circuit court’s reversal, ruling that “[t]he EEOC charging period
    is triggered when a discrete unlawful practice takes place. A
    new violation does not occur, and a new charging period does
    not commence, upon the occurrence of subsequent
    nondiscriminatory acts that entail adverse effects resulting from
    the past discrimination.” Id. at 628. In so holding, the Court
    noted that “it is not our prerogative to change the way in which
    Title VII balances the interests of aggrieved employees against
    the interest in encouraging the prompt processing of all charges
    of employment discrimination and the interest in repose.” Id. at
    642 (internal citation & quotation marks omitted). That
    prerogative lies with Congress, which answered swiftly by
    passing the FPA.
    The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act amended Title VII by
    adding the following section:
    [A]n unlawful employment practice occurs, with
    respect to discrimination in compensation in
    -9-
    violation of this subchapter, when a
    discriminatory compensation decision or other
    practice is adopted, when an individual becomes
    subject to a discriminatory compensation decision
    or other practice, or when an individual is
    affected by application of a discriminatory
    compensation decision or other practice,
    including each time wages, benefits, or other
    compensation is paid, resulting in whole or in
    part from such a decision or other practice.
    42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(3)(A). The purpose of the FPA “was to
    reinstate the law regarding the timeliness of pay compensation
    claims as it was prior to the Ledbetter decision, which Congress
    believed undermined statutory protections against compensation
    discrimination by unduly restricting the time period in which
    victims could challenge and recover for discriminatory
    compensation decisions.” Mikula, 
    583 F.3d at 184
    . Thus,
    pursuant to the FPA, each paycheck that stems from a
    discriminatory compensation decision or pay structure is a
    tainted, independent employment-action that commences the
    administrative statute of limitations.
    Noel contends that the FPA revives his otherwise
    administratively time-barred claims because the “Court’s
    assertion that [his] filing of his EEOC charge . . . is outside of
    the filing period . . . is based on the erroneous conclusion that
    the 300 day period started upon the act of failing to grant him
    a promotion/raise in Amarillo . . . in the spring of 2003.”
    Appellant’s Br. at 8-9. According to Noel, “Boeing’s
    discrimination in refusing to give [him] a raise to Labor Grade
    11 while giving this grade to similarly situated white co-
    workers . . . was perpetuated each time the resulting lower
    compensation was thereafter paid to” him, bringing his claim
    squarely within the FPA. Id. at 12.
    Before addressing Noel’s argument that the FPA
    -10-
    retroactively renders his March 2005 EEOC filing timely, we
    must first determine whether he actually alleged pay
    discrimination in connection with Boeing’s failure to promote
    him in 2003. Noel assigns error to the District Court’s
    determination that the 300-day filing period commenced “upon
    the act of failing to grant him a promotion/raise in Amarillo . .
    . in the spring of 2003.” Appellant’s Br. at 9. He styles his
    failure-to-promote claim as a pay-setting claim by connecting
    “promotion” and “raise,” and by asserting that Boeing’s
    purportedly discriminatory act was “refusing to give [him] a
    raise to Labor Grade 11.” Id. This claim is unpersuasive,
    however, since Noel did not plead or claim a nexus between his
    promotion claim and the resultant lower salary before the
    District Court. To the contrary, nowhere in Noel’s Amended
    Complaint does he make any allegations of disparate
    compensation during the relevant period. See Compl. ¶¶ 11-13
    (App. at 68) (describing the desirability of offsite assignments
    and accusing Boeing in 2002 of sending white co-workers
    offsite and passing him over). Rather, his factual allegations
    were focused on Boeing’s allegedly discriminatory failure to
    promote him while advancing his white co-workers.
    Indeed, Noel did not raise the specter of compensation
    until he reaches the events of 2005. See Compl. ¶¶ 23-26 (App.
    at 69.) And even then, he only discussed compensation in the
    context of disparate pay rates for offsite versus Ridley Park
    jobs, and not as unequal pay for performance of the same job.
    Nor did he attempt to connect his promotion claim to a
    compensation claim in his opposition to Boeing’s motion for
    summary judgment. (App. at 132-34.) Rather, Noel argued that
    his failure to file an EEOC complaint within 300 days of his
    promotion denial was not fatal pursuant to the continuing
    violations theory. (Id. at 131-32.) Again, he claimed no nexus
    between Boeing’s decision not to promote him and any resultant
    disparate compensation.
    -11-
    Nor did Noel allege that he received less pay than his
    white peers for work performed at the same grade level. Rather,
    he consistently and forcefully argued that he was unlawfully
    passed over for promotion while his white co-workers were
    advanced. To be sure, in his Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
    52(b) motion, Noel noted that because his white co-workers
    were promoted to Labor Grade 11, they received more pay than
    he did. (Id. at 444-45.) This does not, however, transform his
    failure-to-promote claim into a discrimination-in-compensation
    claim. Because his white co-workers were at a higher pay grade
    they necessarily received an elevated salary. Throughout this
    litigation, Noel never argued that he was denied equal pay for
    equal work. At best he attempts to connect his lack of
    promotion with the resulting lower salary for the first time on
    appeal.      Therefore, we conclude that despite Noel’s
    protestations to the contrary, he grieved a failure-to-promote
    claim and not a discrimination-in-compensation claim.
    Having determined that Noel actually pled a failure-to-
    promote claim, we address an issue of first impression in this
    circuit: whether, under the FPA, a failure-to-promote claim
    constitutes “discrimination in compensation.” Only one other
    circuit has addressed this issue.
    The D.C. Circuit recently held that the FPA’s terms do
    not cover failure-to-promote grievances. See Schuler v.
    PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 
    595 F.3d 370
    , 375 (D.C. Cir.
    2010). In Schuler, the plaintiff brought an Age Discrimination
    in Employment Act (“ADEA”) complaint against his employer
    for failure to promote him to partner. 
    Id. at 373
    . The district
    court dismissed it as administratively barred. Like Noel,
    Schuler on appeal argued that the FPA rendered his failure-to-
    promote claims timely. 
    Id. at 374
    . The D.C. Circuit rejected
    this argument, noting first that “[t]here can be no dispute that in
    order to benefit from the [FPA, plaintiff] must bring a claim
    involving ‘discrimination in compensation’ and point to a
    -12-
    ‘discriminatory compensation decision or other practice.’” 
    Id.
    The court next noted that in employment law, “‘discrimination
    in compensation’ means paying different wages or providing
    different benefits to similarly situated employees, not promoting
    one employee but not another to a more remunerative position.”
    
    Id.
     (citing Anderson v. Zubieta, 
    180 F.3d 329
    , 338 (D.C. Cir.
    1999)). In turn, the D.C. Circuit concluded that in “context,
    therefore, we do not understand ‘compensation decision or
    other practice’ to refer to the decision to promote one employee
    but not another to a more remunerative position.” 
    Id. at 375
    .
    We note, as did the D.C. Circuit, that the FPA was
    enacted with the specific intent to overrule the Supreme Court’s
    Ledbetter decision, and the issue in that case was confined to
    pay discrimination. The FPA’s focus on compensation
    decisions is evidenced by the “findings” section of the statute,
    which states:
    The Supreme Court[’s decision in Ledbetter]
    significantly impairs statutory protections against
    discrimination in compensation that Congress
    established and that have been bedrock principles
    of American law for decades. The Ledbetter
    decision undermines those statutory protections
    by unduly restricting the time period in which
    victims of discrimination can challenge and
    recover for discriminatory compensation
    decisions or other practices, contrary to the intent
    of Congress. . . . The limitation imposed by the
    Court on the filing of discriminatory
    compensation claims ignores the reality of wage
    discrimination . . . .
    Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-2, § 2,
    
    123 Stat. 5
     (2009). In our view, Congress’ motivation for
    enacting the FPA was to overturn the perceived harshness of
    Ledbetter and to provide greater protection against wage
    -13-
    discrimination but not other types of employment
    discrimination. This intention is evidenced by Congress’ use of
    the term “compensation,” repeated five times throughout the
    Act, indicating that the driving force behind the FPA was
    remedying wage discrimination.6
    On the basis of a plain and natural reading, we conclude
    that the FPA does not apply to failure-to-promote claims. As
    noted above, the FPA states that “[f]or purposes of this section,
    an unlawful employment practice occurs, with respect to
    discrimination in compensation in violation of this subchapter,
    when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice
    is adopted.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(3)(A). This first clause of
    § 2000e-5(e)(3)(A) limits the scope of the Lilly Ledbetter
    Amendment by defining “unlawful employment practice” vis-a-
    vis “discrimination in compensation” violations. It then further
    confines its applicability to situations in which “a
    discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is
    adopted.” Thus, the plain language of the FPA covers
    compensation decisions and not other discrete employment
    decisions.
    This textual analysis is reinforced by our treatment of
    compensation-related claims and failure-to-promote claims as
    distinct grievances that are not coextensive. To maintain a pay
    disparity claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that “employees .
    6
    This interpretation does not render the phrase “or other
    practice” superfluous. These words merely indicate that in
    order to fall within the ambit of the FPA, the discriminatory
    “other practice,” while not actually setting a disparate
    remuneration level, must relate to pay disparity. See Schuler,
    
    595 F.3d at 375
     (noting that “giving an employee a poor
    performance evaluation based upon her sex . . . and then using
    the [unlawful] evaluation to determine her rate of pay”
    constitutes “an other practice” within the meaning of the FPA).
    -14-
    . . were paid differently for performing ‘equal work’–work of
    substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, under similar
    working conditions.” Stanziale v. Jargowsky, 
    200 F.3d 101
    ,
    107 (3d Cir. 2000) (citation omitted). A failure-to-promote
    claim, however, requires a Title VII plaintiff to show “(i) that
    he belongs to a [protected category]; (ii) that he applied and was
    qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking
    applicants; (iii) that, despite his qualifications, he was rejected;
    and (iv) that, after his rejection, the position remained open and
    the employer continued to seek applicants from persons of
    complainant’s qualifications.” Fuentes v. Perskie, 
    32 F.3d 759
    ,
    763 (3d Cir. 1994). Our sister circuits also treat these types of
    discrimination claims as distinct causes of action, requiring
    different elements. See Schuler, 
    595 F.3d at 374-75
     (collecting
    cases). It is well understood that “Congress is aware of a
    judicial interpretation of statutory language.” Nequsie v.
    Holder, 
    129 S. Ct. 1159
    , 1181, – U.S. –, (2009); see also Pope
    by Pope v. E. Brunswick Bd. of Educ., 
    12 F.3d 1244
    , 1249 (3d
    Cir. 1993) (“Congress [is] presumed to know the meanings of
    the words and phrases it uses in drafting statutes.”). Congress
    was undoubtedly aware that courts have universally treated pay-
    setting and failure-to-promote claims as different causes of
    action. Had Congress intended the FPA to cover types of
    employment discrimination claims apart from pay discrimination
    claims, it would have done so explicitly.
    Like the D.C. Circuit, we also note that our decision is
    consistent with Congress’ intent when it passed the FPA. In her
    dissenting opinion in Ledbetter, Justice Ginsburg distinguished
    between compensation decisions and other employment
    decisions, noting that “[p]ay disparities are . . . significantly
    different from adverse actions such as termination, failure to
    promote, . . . or refusal to hire, all involving fully communicated
    discrete acts, easy to identify as discriminatory.” Ledbetter, 
    550 U.S. at 645
     (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (internal quotation marks
    omitted). Unlike the discrete employment acts identified by
    -15-
    Justice Ginsburg, which are readily apparent since an individual
    will know when (s)he has been hired, fired, or promoted,
    compensation decisions are often cloaked in secrecy, and an
    employee may not know how much his or her co-workers earn.
    See 
    id. at 649
     (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (“A worker knows
    immediately if she is denied a promotion . . . . And promotions
    . . . are generally public events, known to co-workers. When an
    employer makes a decision of such open and definitive
    character, an employee can immediately seek out an explanation
    and evaluate it for pretext. Compensation disparities, in
    contrast, are often hidden from sight.”). Thus, the FPA was
    enacted to address a particular type of employment
    discrimination, compensation decisions, which are often
    concealed and not discovered until long after the 180- or 300-
    day administrative period expires. There is no indication,
    however, that Congress intended the FPA to apply to discrete
    employment decisions, like promotion decisions, and Noel cites
    no authority for that proposition.
    Noel’s reliance on our holding in Mikula does not alter
    this conclusion. In Mikula the plaintiff sued the Allegheny
    County Police Department for gender discrimination based on
    its failure to give her a pay raise. 
    583 F.3d at 182
    . Mikula
    alleged that she repeatedly asked for pay increases but received
    no response from her employer. While we initially upheld the
    grant of summary judgment in the defendant’s favor since her
    suit was administratively time-barred, we granted rehearing to
    determine the effect of the FPA on Mikula’s claim and
    ultimately remanded to the district court. 
    Id. at 182, 186
    . In
    doing so, we held that “the failure to answer a request for a raise
    qualifies as a compensation decision because the result is the
    same as if the request had been explicitly denied.” 
    Id. at 186
    .
    Noel contends that the same logic applies here, since
    Boeing’s failure to promote him resulted in lower
    compensation. This argument misses the mark. We recognize
    -16-
    that many employment-related decisions, not simply pay-setting
    decisions, ultimately have some effect on compensation. But to
    include these myriad employment decisions within the “other
    practice” language of the FPA would weaken Title VII’s
    administrative exhaustion requirement. Indeed, the expansive
    interpretation of “other practice” advanced by Noel would
    potentially sweep all employment decisions under the “other
    practice” rubric.
    Furthermore, there is well-established Supreme Court
    precedent holding that discrete employment acts trigger the
    administrative clock at the time the employment decisions
    occur. See Morgan, 
    536 U.S. at 113-14
    . Had Congress
    intended to abrogate § 2000e-5(e)(1) and overturn Morgan, it
    would have done so explicitly and not by implication. See
    Astoria Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Solimino, 
    501 U.S. 104
    ,
    109 (1991) (reaffirming “the kindred rule that legislative repeals
    by implication will not be recognized, insofar as two statutes are
    capable of coexistence, absent a clearly expressed congressional
    intention to the contrary”) (citation & internal quotation marks
    omitted)). Indeed, in § 2 of the FPA, Congress explicitly
    mentioned that the Ledbetter decision was the driving force
    behind enacting the Lilly Ledbetter Amendment to Title VII.
    Congress did not, however, cite to Morgan with displeasure.
    We will therefore not expand the meaning of “other practice”
    such that it swallows whole Title VII’s exhaustion requirement
    and overturns settled Supreme Court precedent.
    In sum, because Noel filed his failure-to-promote
    discrimination charge with the EEOC outside of the 300-day
    period, and because a failure-to-promote claim is not a
    discrimination-in-compensation charge within the meaning of
    the FPA, we affirm the District Court’s Order granting Boeing
    summary judgment.
    -17-
    III.
    For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District
    Court’s grant of Judgment on Partial Findings in Defendants’
    favor.
    -18-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 08-3877

Citation Numbers: 622 F.3d 266, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 20217, 110 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 609, 2010 WL 3817090

Judges: Fuentes, Fisher, Kane

Filed Date: 10/1/2010

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 11/5/2024

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Bonds v. Board of Education of the Little Rock School ... , 801 F. Supp. 2d 807 ( 2011 )

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Carlton Brantley v. Muscogee County School District , 535 F. App'x 912 ( 2013 )

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Stephen Blackstone v. A. L. Thompson , 568 F. App'x 82 ( 2014 )

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Eileen Hylind v. Xerox Corporation , 481 F. App'x 819 ( 2012 )

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