01-1051 Threadgill v. Moore U.S.A., Inc.

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“Although the statute itself does not specify who the recipient of the notice must be, our case law is unambiguous. ‘The 90-day period of limitation set forth in 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e-5(f)(1) begins to run on the date that the EEOC right-to-sue notice is actually received either by the claimant or by the attorney representing him in the Title VII action.’ Jones v. Madison Service Corp., 744 F.2d 1309, 1312 (7th Cir. 1984) (emphasis added); see also Irwin v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 92 (1990); Saxton v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 10 F.3d 526, 532 n. 11 (7th Cir. 1993). Threadgill’s contention that the 90-day period should have begun to run only after his attorney received the notice is a misreading of the precedent. Two types of receipt of a right-to-sue notice can start running the 90-day limitation period, and each does so equally well: actual receipt by the plaintiff, and actual receipt by the plaintiff’s attorney (as such receipt constitutes constructive receipt by the plaintiff). See Jones, 744 F.2d at 1312. Both methods of receipt focus on notice to the plaintiff. The attorney’s receipt is pertinent only because he is an agent of the plaintiff. If, as in the instant case, the plaintiff actually receives notice from the EEOC, the attorney’s receipt is irrelevant; it simply is not required for the 90-day period to begin running. Threadgill takes the holdings of Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit case law, which state that the 90-day period begins upon notice to the attorney or to the plaintiff, and reads them to state that only upon notice to the attorney does the clock begin to tick. Nowhere in our case law is such a result suggested.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Shabaz, J., Flaum, J.