Background
Kimberly Ballard worked for Ameren Illinois Company until her termination in February of two thousand eighteen. She alleged discrimination and retaliation based on a physical disability and filed a Complainant Information Sheet with the Illinois Department of Human Rights within three hundred days of her termination. The state agency later finalized a formal charge after the deadline had passed. Ballard sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the district court dismissed the case for failing to file a charge within the statutory window without addressing her request for equitable tolling.
The court’s reasoning
The court affirmed that the Complainant Information Sheet was not a charge under the Americans with Disabilities Act because it did not explicitly request remedial action. However, the court found that the state agency’s communications were confusing and potentially misleading to a pro se litigant regarding the filing status. Because the record was incomplete regarding the timeline of the agency’s actions and the plaintiff’s diligence, the court concluded that equitable tolling warranted further factual development by the district court.
What it means going forward
Employers and plaintiffs must now litigate whether administrative confusion justifies tolling the filing deadline, shifting the burden to the district court to develop a factual record on equitable tolling.