EEOC Claim – Business Name

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Humberto Trujillo v. Rockledge Furniture LLC, dba Ashley Furniture

Case No.: 18-3349; 19-1651

Officials: BAUER, HAMILTON, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: EEOC Claim – Business Name

This appeal is about business names and when an employee’s error in naming his employer is oris not fatal to an employment discrimination claim. Plaintiff Humberto Trujillo worked as a manager of an Ashley Furniture HomeStore near Chicago. He was fired and then filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging age discrimination and retaliation. In the charge, he listed the name of the Illinois store where he had worked— Ashley Furniture HomeStore—as well as the address and telephone number of the store. The correct legal name of Trujillo’s employer, however, was Rockledge Furniture LLC, a business that operates several Ashley Furniture HomeStores and that was registered to do business in Illinois under the name “Ashley Furniture HomeStore – Rockledge.” The district court dismissed Trujillo’s claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies because he did not name his employer sufficiently and because the EEOC never managed to notify the correct employer of Trujillo’s charge.

We reverse based on two premises. First, Trujillo named his employer sufficiently in his original EEOC charge, and when his lawyer later sent his pay stub with Rockledge’s name and address, he removed any doubt about the employer’s identity. Second, the EEOC’s error in processing his charge does not bar Trujillo from suing his employer.

No. 18-3349 reversed and remanded. No. 19-1651 dismissed as moot.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.