Plaintiff Rachel McDonald sued defendant St. Louis University in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri raising claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant, and McDonald appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Factual Overview
McDonald filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and requested a right-to-sue letter on April 27, 2022. On May 10, 2022, the EEOC sent an email to McDonald’s lawyer with a link to access the right-to-sue letter in the EEOC Public Portal. The lawyer read the email but could not access the letter due to a lost password. The EEOC sent a reminder email on May 18, 2022. On June 21, 2022, McDonald’s lawyer requested the right-to-sue letter again, and the EEOC emailed it as an attachment on June 28, 2022. McDonald filed her complaint on September 23, 2022, which was 137 days after the May 10 email and 87 days after the June 28 email.
The district court found that McDonald’s claims were filed more than 90 days after she received her right-to-sue letter and that equitable tolling did not apply.
Legal Analysis
Timeliness of the Complaint: The court held that the 90-day filing period for Title VII claims began on May 10, 2022, when the EEOC first emailed McDonald’s lawyer with a link to the right-to-sue letter. The court reasoned that actual receipt of the email, not the opening or reading of the attachment, commenced the filing window. The court rejected McDonald’s argument that the May 10 and May 18 emails did not provide actual and effective notification of her right to sue.
Equitable Tolling: The court found that equitable tolling did not apply in this case. It noted that McDonald’s lawyer did not demonstrate sufficient diligence in attempting to obtain the password or access the right-to-sue letter. The court emphasized that even when the lawyer received the letter as an email attachment on June 28, McDonald still had 41 days to file her complaint timely.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment, finding that McDonald’s complaint was untimely and that equitable tolling did not apply.
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