Grace A. ONG, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph Maxwell CLELAND, Administrator of Veterans Affairs, Defendant-Appellee

Grace Ong appeals the district court’s entry of summary judgment, 492 F.Supp. 51 , in her Title VII suit against Joseph Cleland, Administrator of Veterans Affairs. Trial court jurisdiction was based on 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(f)(3) and 2000e-16(d) (1976). Jurisdiction on appeal is based on 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(j) (1976) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1976).

Ong filed an administrative charge alleging that she was denied a promotion on the basis of national origin. During the pend-ency of the administrative process, she took a disability retirement due to a nervous condition allegedly provoked by the complained-of employer conduct: Ong retired in April 1978 and the administrative hearing was held in May 1978. The administrative process both established her employer’s discriminatory conduct in promotion and awarded her a retroactive appointment up to the date of her retirement. The district court found as a matter of law that Ong had waived her right to federal court jurisdiction over her Title VII claim for additional damages by failing to exhaust her administrative remedies.

Ong challenges the district court’s entry of summary judgment on the ground that she did, as a matter of law, exhaust…