Summary
The Supreme Court of Texas held that the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act does not automatically apply to pay-discrimination claims under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. Under the TCHRA, the 180-day filing period generally begins when the employee is informed of the discriminatory compensation decision, rather than when subsequent discriminatory paychecks are received. Because the claimant filed her administrative complaint outside that period, the court reversed and rendered judgment dismissing the suit as jurisdictionally barred.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act applies to pay-discrimination claims brought under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act.
- When the 180-day period for filing a TCHRA administrative complaint begins in a pay-discrimination case.
- Whether the TCHRA's 180-day administrative filing requirement is a mandatory statutory prerequisite to suit and therefore jurisdictional when the defendant is a governmental entity.
Holdings
- The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act does not apply to pay-discrimination claims brought under the TCHRA because the Texas Legislature has not amended the TCHRA to adopt the federal Act's paycheck-based accrual rule.
- The 180-day TCHRA filing period generally begins when the employee is informed of the allegedly discriminatory pay decision, not when later paychecks reflect the effects of that decision.
- The TCHRA's requirement that an administrative complaint be filed within 180 days is a mandatory statutory prerequisite to suit under Texas Government Code section 311.034 and is jurisdictional in a suit against a governmental entity.
Key quotations
“Because Title VII and the TCHRA are no longer analogous where discriminatory pay claims are concerned, and because the Legislature—and not this Court—is the proper governmental branch to amend the TCHRA, we hold that the federal Ledbetter Act does not apply to a claim brought under the TCHRA.” (503)
“In pay discrimination cases, the setting of an alleged discriminatory pay rate is a discrete act—that is, the only act taken with a discriminatory motive is the pay-setting decision.” (510)
“In sum, we hold that section 21.202’s administrative filing requirement is a mandatory statutory requirement that must be complied with before filing suit, and, as such, is a statutory prerequisite under section 311.034.” (514)
Factual background
Diljit K. Chatha, an Indian-national-origin professor at Prairie View A&M University, sought promotion from associate professor to full professor in 2003 and received the promotion in 2004 after initially being denied. She complained that her salary was inequitable but was told that no funds were available for an adjustment. Approximately two years later, she filed an EEOC and TWC complaint alleging race- and national-origin-based pay discrimination, then sued under the TCHRA.
Procedural history
Chatha sued Prairie View A&M University under the TCHRA after filing an allegedly untimely administrative complaint with the EEOC and Texas Workforce Commission. The trial court denied the University's plea to the jurisdiction. The First Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act applied and rendered Chatha's complaint timely. The Texas Supreme Court reversed and rendered judgment dismissing the suit.