Judge Thomas Griesa
Steplight, who is black, began working for the city’s transportation agency (NYCDOT) in April 2006. Her Jan. 5, 2012, Title VII actionalleging retaliation and racial discriminationrelated to an assault on Oct. 3, 2006, by coworker Cavaliere and mistreatment by NYCDOT thereafter. Tension between Italian-American and black NYCDOT workers was a recurring theme in Steplight’s complaint. Steplight filed a charge with the EEOC on Oct. 29, 2010. Its Oct. 5, 2011, "Dismissal and Notice of Rights" letter adopted the findings of a state or local agency. An Oct. 10, 2006, report by NYCDOT’s Advocate’s Office found Steplight’s claims unsubstantiated. The state’s human rights agency took no action because the limitations period had ended. The complaint was dismissed. Despite allegations suggesting poor treatment by NYCDOT, Steplight’s claims had not been timely filed with the EEOC. The best inference was that she filed a charge with an authorized state or local agency before Oct. 29, 2010. That charge could be timely only as it related to conduct no earlier than Jan. 2, 2010. Steplight’s complaint did not describe events after December 2009. Moreover, her complaint’s central allegations related to events between Oct. 3, and Nov. 3, 2006.
