Lewis v. City of Chicago

Title VII of the 1964 civil rights act prohibits employment practices that have a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title VII also establishes a 300 day deadline for filing discrimination complaints with the EEOC. The court of appeals in this case held that the 300 days begins to run from the moment that the challenged practice is adopted rather than from the date it is applied against the complaining employee. The ACLU joined with three dozen civil rights groups in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn that holding and pointing out, among other things, that the lower court rule perversely encourages employees to file complaints before they even know whether they will be personally affected by the employer’s allegedly discriminatory practice.