As any practitioner knows, there are going to be times in your career where your opponent thinks they have you dead to rights. A “gotcha” moment, if you will. We have all been there, chest puffing, brooding with confident that no court in the world could see things any other way but your way. It is usually during these overconfident times that lawyers can take a step back and learn a life lesson, which is exactly what happened in a recent case relating to the statute of limitations under Title VII in Bivines v. Temple University, Civ. A. No. 17-2587 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 9 McHugh, J.).

The case at issue was on behalf of a housekeeper by the name of Hassan Bivines who worked for Temple University for almost seven years. After he was fired in March 2016, Bivines filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for a hostile work environment and wrongful termination. He filed his charge on Dec. 26, 2016. Almost immediately thereafter, the EEOC issued a right to sue letter to Bivines wherein it offered the following explanation for closing his case: “Your charge was not timely filed with the EEOC; in other words you waited too long after the date(s) of the alleged discrimination to file your charge.”