Betty Johnson v. William J. Henderson, U.S. Postmaster General

Plaintiff-appellant Betty Johnson (“Johnson”) sued her employer, the United States Postal Service (“USPS”), claiming that she and her coworkers were sexually harassed on the job. USPS moved for summary judgment on the ground that, inter alia, Johnson had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies before suing in federal court because she had failed to comply with two administrative filing deadlines. Johnson maintained that the doctrines of equitable tolling and equitable estoppel should be applied to excuse her late filings. The district court found that Johnson’s administrative filings were not timely and that neither equitable tolling nor equitable estoppel applied, and granted summary judgment to USPS. Johnson now appeals that award of summary judgment, arguing that the district court erred in refusing to apply equitable tolling and/or equitable estoppel to her administrative claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we now affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to Johnson, as required on summary judgment, Oliver v. Keller, 289 F.3d 623, 626 (9th Cir.2002), the record reveals the following facts. From November 1997 through January…