MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST delivered the opinion of the Court.Petitioners seek review of a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that a claim brought by petitioner Dortha Guy under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was barred by her failure to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within the statutory limitations period.  They present three contentions:  the existence and utilization of grievance procedures postpone the date on which an allegedly discriminatory firing took place; the existence and utilization of grievance procedures toll the running of the limitations period which would otherwise begin on the date of the firing; and the 1972 amendments to Title VII, Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 86 Stat. 103 (Mar. 24, 1972), extending the limitations period from 90 to 180 days, apply to the charge in this case.IRespondent Robbins & Myers, Inc. (hereinafter respondent), terminated the employment of petitioner Guy on October 25, 1971, and assigned as its reason for doing so her failure to comply with procedures contained in the collective bargaining agreement pertaining to leaves of absence.  Two days later, petitioner caused a grievance alleging an "unfair action" of the company in firing her to be filed on her Page 429 U. S. 232 behalf in accordance with the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement then in force between petitioner Local 790 of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (Local 790) and respondent.  That agreement's dispute-resolution procedure, which is to be commenced within "five (5) working days of the commission of the act originating the grievance," consists of three grievance steps followed by one arbitration step.  Guy's grievance was processed through the third step of the grievance procedure, where it was denied on November 18, 1971, with the finding that her termination had been in accordance with the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.On February 10, 1972, a date 84 days after the denial of her grievance at the third stage, but 108 days after the date of her discharge, Guy, who is black, filed a charge of racial discrimination with the EEOC directed against both respondent and Local 790.  The EEOC, in November, 1973, issued its determination and "right to sue" letter, finding that there was "no reason to believe that race was a factor in the decision to discharge" Guy.  Her suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5 was met by a motion to dismiss on the ground, inter alia, that-it was barred because of her failure to file a charge with the EEOC within 90 days of her discharge, § 706(d), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(d). [Footnote 1]  The District Court dismissed her action, [Footnote 2] and the Page 429 U. S. 233 Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment by a divided vote, 525 F.2d 124 (1975).  That court felt that it would be "utterly inconsistent" with our opinions in Johnson v.Railway Express Agency, 421 U. S. 454 (1975) and in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U. S. 36 (1974), to hold that the pursuit of a contractual grievance procedure operates to toll a Title VII remedy "which the employee has a right to resort to concurrently."  525 F.2d  at 126.  Then, noting the question of the applicability of the 1972 amendments to Title VII raised by the EEOC as amicus curiae (also noting, without more, that, "[s]ince this issue was not raised in the District Court by any party to the case, we are not required to consider it"), the Court of Appeals stated:"Plaintiff Guy's claim was barred on January 24, 1972.  She did not file her charge with EEOC until February 10, 1972.  The amendments to Title VII, increasing the time within which to file her charge to 180 days, did not become effective until March 24, 1972.  42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) [1970 ed., Supp. V].  The subsequent increase of time to file the charge enacted by Congress could not revive plaintiff's claim which had been previously barred and extinguished."525 F.2d  at 128.The dissenting judge disagreed on this point, believing that the case should be remanded for consideration of the effect of the 1972 amendments.We granted certiorari, 425 U.S. 950, to resolve an apparent Circuit conflict on two of these issues:  tolling during the pendency of a collective bargaining contract's grievance mechanism, [Footnote 3] and the applicability of the 1972 amendments Page 429 U. S. 234 to charges filed more than 90 days from the date of the alleged discriminatory act but less than 180 days before the time the amendments became effective.IIBefore reaching either of those questions, however, petitioners Guy and Local 790 assert that the complaint with the EEOC was timely filed not because of any tolling concept, but simply because the date "the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred" is the date of the conclusion of the collective bargaining agreement's grievance-arbitration procedures.  Until that time, we are told, the October 25 discharge of Guy (although itself an "occurrence" allowing immediate resort to the EEOC) was "tentative" and "nonfinal," and remained so until she terminated the grievance and arbitration process, at which time the "final" occurrence transpired. [Footnote 4]  As a consequence, according to petitioners, the unfavorable termination of the grievance procedures, making the discharge "final," constituted an "occurrence" enabling Guy to start the 90-day period running from that date.While the parties could conceivably have agreed to a contract under which management's ultimate adoption of a supervisor's recommendation would be deemed the relevant statutory "occurrence," this was not such a contract.  For all that appears, Guy was fired as of October 25, 1971, and all parties so understood.  She stopped work and ceased receiving pay and benefits as of that date.  Unless the grievance Page 429 U. S. 235 procedures resulted in her reinstatement, she would not be entitled to be paid for the period during which the grievance procedures were being implemented. [Footnote 5]  The grievance lodged on October 27, 1971, protests the "unfair action of Co. for discharge" (emphasis added), while the complaint filed in the District Court alleges Guy's disagreement, after learning of her discharge, "with the Company's determination that she had voluntarily quit,'" (emphasis added).  Throughout the proceedings, both in the District Court and in the Court of Appeals, both sides appear to have assumed, as did the courts, that the date of discharge was October 25, 1971.  There being no indication that either party viewed the October 25 discharge as anything other than "final," [Footnote 6] there is certainly no reason for us to now torture this mutual understanding by accepting the bare assertions to the contrary raised by petitioners for the first time before this Court. [Footnote 7] Page 429 U. S. 236IIIWe think that petitioners' arguments for tolling the statutory period for filing a claim with the EEOC during the pendency of grievance or arbitration procedures under the collective bargaining contract are virtually foreclosed by our decisions in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U. S. 36 (1974), and in Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U. S. 454 (1975).  In Alexander, we held that an arbitrator's decision pursuant to provisions in a collective bargaining contract was not binding on an individual seeking to pursue his Title VII remedies in court.  We reasoned that the contractual rights under a collective bargaining agreement and the statutory right provided by Congress under Title VII "have legally independent origins, and are equally available to the aggrieved employee," 415 U.S. at  415 U. S. 52, [Footnote 8] and, for that reason, we concluded:"[I]n instituting an action under Title VII, the employee is not seeking review of the arbitrator's decision.  Rather, he is asserting a statutory right independent of the arbitration process."Id. at  415 U. S. 54.One Term later, we reaffirmed the independence of Title VII remedies from other preexisting remedies available to an aggrieved employee.  In Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, we held that the timely filing of a charge with the EEOC pursuant to § 706 of Title VII did not toll the running of the statute of limitations applicable to an action, based on the same facts, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.  In reaffirming the independence of Title VII remedies from Page 429 U. S. 237 other remedies, we note that such independence might occasionally be a two-edged sword, [Footnote 9] but, "in the face of congressional emphasis upon the existence and independence of the two remedies," we were disinclined "to infer any positive preference for one over the other without a more definite expression in the legislation Congress has enacted," 421 U.S. at  421 U. S. 461.Petitioners insist that, notwithstanding these decisions, equitable tolling principles should be applied to this litigation, and that the application of such principles would toll the 90-day period pending completion of the grievance procedures.  This is so, they say, because, here, the "policy of repose, designed to protect defendants," Burnett v. New York Central R. Co., 380 U. S. 424,  380 U. S. 428 (1965), is "outweighed [because] the interests of justice require vindication of the plaintiff's rights."But this is quite a different situation from Burnett, supra. [Footnote 10]  There the plaintiff in a Federal Employers' Liability Act action had asserted his FELA claim in the state courts, which had concurrent jurisdiction with the federal courts, but he had Page 429 U. S. 238 the misfortune of filing his complaint in an Ohio State court where venue did not lie under Ohio law.  This Court held that such a filing was sufficient to toll the statutory limitations period, even though the state court action was dismissed for improper venue and a new complaint ultimately filed in the United States District Court.  The Court said:"Petitioner here did not sleep on his rights, but brought an action within the statutory period in a state court of competent jurisdiction.  Service of process was made upon the respondent notifying him that petitioner was asserting his cause of action."Id. at  380 U. S. 429.Here petitioner Guy in the grievance proceedings was not asserting the same statutory claim in a different forum, nor giving notice to respondent of that statutory claim, but was asserting an independent claim based on a contract right, Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., supra at  415 U. S. 53-54,  415 U. S. 56-58.  Burnett cannot aid this petitioner, see Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, supra at  421 U. S. 467, and n. 14. [Footnote 11]Petitioners advance as a corollary argument for tolling the premise that substantial policy considerations, based on the central role of arbitration in labor-management relations, see Steelworkers v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U. S. 564 (1960); Textile Workers v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U. S. 448 (1957), also dictate a finding that the Title VII limitations period is tolled in this situation.  Similar arguments by the employer in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., urging the superiority and preeminence of the arbitration process were rejected by us in that case, and we find the reasoning of that case controlling in rejecting this claim made by petitioners. Page 429 U. S. 239Petitioners also advance a related argument that the danger of possible conflict between the concurrent pursuit of both collective bargaining and Title VII remedies should result in tolling the limitations period for the latter while the former proceeds to conclusion.  Similar arguments to these, albeit relating to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and not to private labor agreements, were however, raised and rejected in Johnson.  We think the language we used in that case is sufficient to dispose of this claim:"[I]t is conceivable, and perhaps almost to be expected, that failure to toll will have the effect of pressing a civil rights complainant who values his § 1981 claim into court before the EEOC has completed its administrative proceeding.  One answer to this, although perhaps not a highly satisfactory one, is that the plaintiff, in his § 1981 suit, may ask the court to stay proceedings until the administrative efforts at conciliation and voluntary compliance have been completed.  But the fundamental answer to petitioner's argument lies in the fact -- presumably a happy one for the civil rights claimant -- that Congress clearly has retained § 1981 as a remedy against private employment discrimination separate from and independent of the more elaborate and time-consuming procedures of Title VII."421 U.S. at  421 U. S. 465-466.Petitioners contend at some length that tolling would impose almost no costs, as the delays occasioned by the grievance-arbitration process would be "slight," [Footnote 12] noting that the maximum delay in invoking the three-stage grievance procedure (although not including the arbitration step) under the collective bargaining agreement in force in this Page 429 U. S. 240 case would be 35 days.  But the principal answer to this contention is that Congress has already spoken with respect to what it considers acceptable delay when it established a 90-day limitations period, and gave no indication that it considered a "slight" delay followed by 90 days equally acceptable.  In defining Title VII's jurisdictional prerequisites "with precision," Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. at  415 U. S. 47, Congress did not leave to courts the decision as to which delays might or might not be "slight." [Footnote 13]Congress did provide in § 706(b) one exception for this 90-day limitations period, when it provided that the limitations period should run for a maximum additional 120 days when there existed"a State or local law prohibiting the unlawful employment practice alleged and establishing or authorizing a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof."Where Congress has spoken with respect to a claim much more closely related to the Title VII claim than is the contractual claim pursued under the grievance procedure, and then firmly limited the maximum possible extension of the limitations period applicable thereto, we think that all of petitioners' arguments taken together simply do not carry sufficient weight to overcome the negative implication from the language used by Congress, cf. Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U.S. at  421 U. S. 461. [Footnote 14] Page 429 U. S. 241IVGuy filed her charge with the EEOC on February 10, 1972, 108 days after her October 25, 1971, discharge.  On March 24, 1972, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 86 Stat. 103, extended to 180 days the time within which to file a claim with the EEOC, § 706(e).  Petitioners contend that this expanded limitations period should apply to Guy's charge, as the occurrence she was complaining of took place within 180 days of the enactment of the 1972 amendments.  We agree.Section 14 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 86 Stat. 113, states:"The amendments made by this Act to section 706 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shall be applicable with respect to charges pending with the Commission on the date of enactment of this Act and all charges filed thereafter."Respondent asserts that § 14, which was added by amendment to the bill on the floor of the House by Senator Javits, 118 Cong.Rec. 4816 (1972), was designed for the sole purpose of having the new enforcement powers given to the EEOC apply to pending charges, see letter of Feb. 14, 1972, Page 429 U. S. 242 from David L. Norman, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, to Senator Dominick, quoted in EEOC v. Christiansburg Garment Co., 376 F. Supp. 1067, 1074 (WD Va.1974).  However, the explicit statutory language used applies to all amendments made by the Act to § 706, not simply to the new enforcement provisions.  As Senator Javits did not limit his remarks on the floor so as to indicate that § 14's retroactivity was designed to apply only to the new enforcement provisions, [Footnote 15] the legislative history does not make this one of those unusual cases in which a court may infer, contrary to the language actually used, that Congress intended to so limit the scope of § 14, cf. also S.Rep. No. 91-1137, p. 31 (1970).Respondent also contends that the amendment is not applicable to the charge filed by Guy with the EEOC, since, being untimely when filed, her charge could not have been "pending with the Commission on the date of enactment of this Act."  This reading of "pending" -- confining it to charges still before the Commission and timely when filed -- is not the only possible meaning of the word, is largely rebutted by the legislative history, [Footnote 16] and renders the language of § 14 virtually meaningless insofar as the enlarged limitations period is concerned.  Since Congress also applied the enlarged limitations period to charges, whether or not untimely on March 24, "filed thereafter," we should not presume Congress created this odd Page 429 U. S. 243 hiatus in retroactivity suggested by respondent unless congressional intent to do so was conveyed by language more precise than "pending," cf. Love v. Pullman Co., 404 U. S. 522 (1972).  "Pending" is simply not a term of art that unambiguously carries with it a meaning precisely suited for this situation; equally logical, for example, would be an interpretation that read "pending" to mean "filed and not yet rejected," cf. Leg.Hist., supra, n 16, at 1851.  We hold that Congress intended the 180-day period to be applicable to charges such as that filed by Guy, where the charge was filed with the EEOC prior to March 24, 1972, and alleged a discriminatory occurrence within 180 days of the enactment of the Act. [Footnote 17]Respondent contends, finally, that Congress was without constitutional power to revive, by enactment, an action which, when filed, is already barred by the running of a limitations period.  This contention rests on an unwarrantedly broad reading of our opinion in William Danzer Co. v. Gulf & Ship Island R. Co., 268 U. S. 633 (1925).  Danzer was given a narrow reading in the later case of Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson, 325 U. S. 304,  325 U. S. 312 n. 8 (1945).  The latter case states the applicable constitutional test in this language:"The Fourteenth Amendment does not make an act of state legislation void merely because it has some retrospective operation.  What it does forbid is taking of life, liberty or property without due process of law. . . .  Assuming that statutes of limitation, like other types of legislation, could be so manipulated that their retroactive effects would offend the Constitution, certainly it cannot be said that lifting the bar of a Page 429 U. S. 244 statute of limitation so as to restore a remedy lost through mere lapse of time is per se an offense against the Fourteenth Amendment."Id. at  325 U. S. 315-316.  Applying that test to this litigation, we think that Congress might constitutionally provide for retroactive application of the extended limitations period which it enacted.We thus resolve against petitioners their first two contentions, but resolve the third in their favor.  The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is therefore reversed, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.Reversed
U.S. Supreme CourtElectrical Workers v. Robbins & Myers, Inc., 429 U.S. 229 (1976)International Union of Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers,AFL-CIO, Local 790 v. Robbins & Myers, Inc.No. 75-1264Argued November 9, 1976Decided December 20, 1976*429 U.S. 229SyllabusTwo days after her discharge by respondent company, petitioner Guy, a Negro, caused a grievance alleging "unfair action" to be filed on her behalf pursuant to procedures in a collective bargaining agreement between her union and respondent.  On February 10, 1972, 84 days after the company under those procedures had denied the grievance, but 108 days after the discharge, petitioner Guy filed a charge of racial discrimination relating to her discharge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which, in November, 1973, concluded that race had not figured in the discharge.  Petitioner Guy then brought this suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the District Court, which thereafter dismissed the suit on the ground that Guy had not filed her charge with the EEOC within 90 days "after the alleged unlawful practice occurred," as required by $ 706(d) (a period later extended to 180 days when, effective March 24, 1972, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 amended the limitations provision), and that Guy's resort to the contractual grievance procedure did not extend the time in which to file the Title VII charge.  Section 14 of the 1972 amendments provides that the amendments"shall be applicable with respect to charges pending with the Commission on the date of the enactment of this Act and all charges filed thereafter."The Court of Appeals, which affirmed, also concluded that the extension of 180 days could not "revive" a claim that was "barred and extinguished" before the extension's effective date.Held:1. Petitioners' contention, raised explicitly for the first time in this Court, that the date of the conclusion of the grievance procedures, not the date of the discharge, was the "final" date of "the alleged unlawful practice," is without merit as being contrary to the understanding of the parties themselves in the courts below.  Pp.  429 U. S. 234-235. Page 429 U. S. 2302. The existence and utilization of grievance procedures does not toll the running of the limitations period that would otherwise begin on the date of the firing, Title VII remedies being independent of other preexisting remedies available to an aggrieved employee.  Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U. S. 36; Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U. S. 454.  Pp.  429 U. S. 236-240.(a) Petitioner Guy, by pursuing the grievance procedures, was asserting an independent claim based on a contract right, and was in no way thereby prevented from filing her charge with the EEOC within 90 days of her discharge.  Application of equitable principles to toll the 90-day period pending completion of the grievance procedures is therefore inappropriate here.  Burnett v. New York Central R. Co., 380 U. S. 424, distinguished.  Pp.  429 U. S. 237-238.(b) Congress clearly intended to retain other remedies "against private employment discrimination separate from and independent of the more elaborate and time-consuming procedures of Title VII," Johnson v. Railway Express Co., supra at  421 U. S. 465-466.  Pp.  429 U. S. 239-240.3. The 1972 amendments and their legislative history demonstrate that Congress intended to apply the 180-day period to a charge such as that filed by Guy where the charge was filed with the EEOC before these amendments became effective, was still pending when the amendments became effective, and alleged a discriminatory occurrence within 180 days on the enactment of the amendment.  Pp.  429 U. S. 241-243.4. Lifting the bar of a statute of limitations so as to restore a remedy lost through mere lapse of time is not per se unconstitutional.  Cf. Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson, 325 U. S. 304,  325 U. S. 311-312.  Pp.  429 U. S. 243-244.525 F.2d 124, reversed and remanded.REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined.  BRENNAN, STEWART, MARSHALL, and STEVENS, JJ., post, p.  429 U. S. 244, filed a separate statement. Page 429 U. S. 231