Starbucks Worker’s Initial EEOC Filing Wasn’t Charge, Can’t Sue

Starbucks Corp. defeated a Black Jewish disabled former employee’s bias claims by showing his initial filing with the EEOC didn’t request enforcement action, rendering the suit untimely.

A filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prior to a formal discrimination charge can qualify as a charge for purposes of determining whether the pre-suit administrative process was timely triggered, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas said. But such a filing must ask the agency to act to enforce the worker’s anti-discrimination rights, the court said.

C.R. Perkins reached out to the EEOC after being fired by Starbucks. ...