James L. JEFFERSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PEERLESS PUMPS HYDRODYNAMIC, DIVISION OF FMC CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee

James L. Jefferson appeals a district court order dismissing with prejudice his complaint charging his employer, Peerless Pumps Hydrodynamic Division of the FMC Corporation (Peerless), with job discrimination in violation of the equal employment provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. We reverse and remand.

Jefferson, a Negro, had been employed by Peerless since February, 1967. On February 26, 1968, he sent a letter to the Los Angeles office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC) alleging that Peerless had prevented him from entering its job-training programs solely because of his race. The EEOC sent him its “Charge of Discrimination” form, which Jefferson filled out, and retuimed on March 19. After stamping the charge as received and giving it a case number, the EEOC referred it to the Los Angeles office of the California Fair Employment Practice Commission, (the FEPC), in keeping with its policy of forwarding all discrimination charges to the responsible state agency in compliance with § 2000e-5(b). The FEPC sent Jefferson another form, which he returned on April 4.

On June 10, the EEOC informed him that the sixty-day referral…