Failure to Exhaust Remedies Not a Jurisdictional Bar to Title VII Suit: Second Circuit | Practical Law
In Fowlkes v. Ironworkers Local 40, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded an order of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissing plaintiff's Title VII claim on the basis of his failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. The Second Circuit held that the district court erred in dismissing the amended complaint because exhaustion of administrative remedies before filing a Title VII action in federal court is not a jurisdictional requirement, but rather a precondition of suit that may be subject to equitable defenses.