Is an intake questionnaire filed with the EEOC sufficient to be considered a discrimination charge? It depends. On February 27, the Supreme Court held by a 7-2 vote in Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki that a former employee who filed an intake questionnaire supported by a detailed affidavit had filed a charge that entitled her to file an ADEA suit. The Supreme Court decided that a document filed with the EEOC that requests action to protect the employee’s rights or to settle a dispute with the employer constitutes a discrimination charge under the ADEA.

In its second pro-employee decision in two days, the Supreme Court held that a charging party need not fi le a formal charge with the EEOC to satisfy the administrative charge-fi ling requirement. All that is required is that the person fi le documents with the EEOC that can be “reasonably construed as a request for the agency to take remedial action to protect the employee’s rights.” In Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki, No. 06-1322 (Feb. 27, 2008), four couriers brought a lawsuit claiming age discrimination in connection with new performance programs rolled out by the company. Only one of the claimants fi led any papers with the EEOC before fi ling suit. That claimant had submitted an Intake Questionnaire accompanied by a sworn affi davit that asked the EEOC to “please force Federal Express to end their age discrimination.” The company did not receive notice of the claim before suit was fi led. The district court dismissed the lawsuit but the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. The Supreme Court affi rmed the court of appeals.

For the second consecutive day, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued an important employment law decision. Today, in a 7-2 ruling, the high court held that submitting an "intake questionnaire" and a detailed affidavit to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is equivalent to filing a charge for purposes of the exhaustion of administrative remedies requirement under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). According to the majority: "The agency's determination that respondent's December 2001 filing was a charge is a reasonable exercise of its authority to apply its own regulations and procedures in the course of the routine administration of the statute it enforces."