Gordon Lynn Miles v. Department of the Army

Appellant Gordon Miles appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his Title VII employment discrimination action. Miles’ complaint alleges that his nonselection for promotion on six different occasions within the Department of the Army was the result of race discrimination. In filing his complaint, Miles requested appointed counsel pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(l)(B). Without ruling on Miles’ motion for appointment of counsel, the district court granted the Government’s motion to dismiss, finding that Miles had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies in a timely fashion on a majority of his claims and that he had failed to commence his action against the proper party within the relevant statutory period. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

In September 1983, while an employee of the Army, Miles applied for a promotion to GS-7 Military Personnel Relations Technician. Following the denial of his promotion request, Miles initiated an administrative claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), alleging that this nonselection [hereinafter “1983 claim”], as well as four earlier incidents of nonselection [hereinafter “pre-1983 claims”], were the…