Employers Can’t Reduce Title VII’s Suit Deadline, 4th Cir. Says

Employers cannot contractually shorten the window workers have to sue under two federal employment laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and age, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The deadlines Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act establish for filing an administrative charge before going to court and for suing after the agency process is completed create rights that can’t be truncated, Judge Toby J. Heytens wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

“Judicial enforcement of such agreements ...