In accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 (2002), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued a revision to its Compliance Manual section on "Threshold Issues" addressing time limitations on filing charges of employment discrimination with the agency. The revised Compliance Manual Chapter and questions and answers about the revision are available online at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/compliance.html.

Threshold issues are requirements that an individual must satisfy in order to have a legal claim under the EEO statutes. When a charge is filed with the EEOC, the investigator determines whether threshold requirements are satisfied before considering the substantive claim of discrimination. In Morgan, the Court ruled that the timeliness of an employment discrimination charge depends upon whether it involves a discrete act or a hostile work environment claim. A discrete act is only independently actionable if it occurred within the filing period. In contrast, all of the incidents that make up the same hostile work environment claim are actionable as long as at least one incident occurred within the filing period.

In Morgan, the Court ruled that the timeliness of an employment discrimination charge depends upon whether it involves a discrete act or a hostile work environment claim. A discrete act is only independently actionable if it occurred within the filing period. In contrast, all of the incidents that make up the same hostile work environment claim are actionable as long as at least one incident occurred within the filing period.