Title VII, ADEA, and ADA claims require filing a timely charge and obtaining a right to sue notice. Claims not raised in the charge or reasonably related to it are barred.
Exhaustion is a claim-processing rule rather than jurisdictional under Fort Bend.
Alternative Names:
Administrative Exhaustion|Exhaustion Requirement
Why it Matters?
Fort Bend held exhaustion is not jurisdictional, which means the defense is waivable and must be raised promptly rather than at any point in the litigation. An employer that litigated for two years before asserting failure to exhaust may have forfeited it. The scope limitation remains substantive, barring claims outside the charge, which makes comparing the charge against the complaint an early analytical step.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Is exhaustion jurisdictional?
What does the scope limitation bar?
