[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in a case where the Court must decide whether an age discrimination lawsuit against FedEx [corporate website] was filed properly. In FedEx v. Holowecki (06-1322) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], FedEx seeks to overturn a Second Circuit decision [PDF text] that an "intake questionnaire" submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [official website] met the requirements of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) [text].

The ADEA requires that plaintiffs alleging discrimination notify the EEOC and wait 60 days before filing a lawsuit with an employer. The delay allows the EEOC to notify the company and investigate the charges. Fedex alleges that the plaintiffs filed suit before notifying the EEOC. The plaintiffs say that the form filed with the EEOC contained the necessary information and that they waited for the statutory amount of time before filing their case. The case will be heard next term, which begins in October. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.