In Roy v. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, 16-3064-cv (2d Cir. March 23, 2017) (Summary Order), the court affirmed the dismissal, on timeliness/failure-to-exhaust-remedies grounds, of plaintiff’s claims of discrimination, retaliation, and failure to accommodate in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
From the Order:
We conclude that the district court properly dismissed Roy’s complaint on the ground that
he filed an untimely EEOC charge. A plaintiff raising an ADA claim of discrimination must
exhaust all administrative remedies by filing an EEOC charge within 300 days of the alleged
discriminatory conduct. Here, Roy alleged that the last instance of discriminatory conduct occurred on July 2, 2012, when he was terminated. He was thus required to file his EEOC charge by April 29, 2013. Roy alleged that he filed his EEOC charge on June 30, 2015, well beyond the 300-day period.
It also held that the 300-day period was not subject to “equitable tolling”, which “is only appropriate in rare and exceptional circumstances in which a party is prevented in some extraordinary way from exercising his rights” such as “when the plaintiff is unaware of his or her cause of action due to misleading conduct of the defendant.”