Wendell Lyons Donald Tate Robert L. Claiborne Rosevelt Willson v. Gordon R. England, Secretary of the Navy

Plaintiffs-appellants Wendell Lyons, Donald Tate, Robert Claiborne, and Rose-velt Willson appeal a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee Gordon R. England, Secretary of the Navy, against appellants’ claims that ap-pellee violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., during the course of their employment at the Naval Aviation Depot North Island, San Diego, California (“NADNI”). Appellants claim that appel-lee subjected African-American male employees at NADNI to unlawful disparate treatment by .denying them favorable work assignments and job promotions over a period of several consecutive years. Appellant Tate additionally claims that appel-lee retaliated against him for filing charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of appellee on all of the appellants’ claims. The court ruled that appellee could not be held liable either for the discriminatory allocation of work assignments occurring outside of the 45-day limitations period in which federal employees must contact an Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) counselor regarding their claims,…