The following are summaries of opinions issued by the Fifth Circuit in February 2024. The summaries are overviews of particular aspects of the opinions; please review the entire opinions.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: Contractual limitations provision barred federal employment discrimination claim.
Harris v. FedEx Corp. Servs., Inc., 92 F.4th 286 (5th Cir. 2024).
FedEx hired Harris as an account executive in sales. Her employment contract included a “Limitation Provision,” providing that “[t]o the extent the law allows an employee to bring legal action against the Company, [Harris] agrees to bring that complaint within the time prescribed by law or 6 months from the date of the event forming the basis of [her] lawsuit, whichever expires first.”
FedEx terminated Harris—allegedly for poor performance—on Jan. 8, 2020. Harris sued FedEx 17 months later, bringing a claim for employment discrimination and retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Section 1981 has no express statute of limitations, so usually the relevant state law’s statute of limitations applies.
Relying on the limitations provision, FedEx moved for summary judgment on Harris’s § 1981 claim.