Moreland v. Johnson

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing plaintiff-federal employee’s Title VII claim alleging that defendant-employer retaliated against her by failing to compensate her for her time and travel expenses to attend her own hearing before ALJ on her internal discrimination claim, where defendant had compensated two co-workers who testified favorably for defendant at said hearing. Record showed that ALJ advised plaintiff to file second discrimination complaint to address instant claim, and although plaintiff followed ALJ advice, Dist. Ct. found that plaintiff failed to exhaust her administrative remedies by failing to amend her original claim to include instant retaliation claim. Ct. of Appeals, though, found that plaintiff was not required to file amendment to original complaint where: (1) any amendment would significantly delay resolution of original claim; and (2) instant retaliation claim did not pertain to alleged dissatisfaction with processing of original claim so as to require any amendment of original claim under EEOC regulations. Also, exhaustion of remedies requirement did not apply where failure to amend complaint was result of plaintiff following advice of ALJ.