By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court decided Wednesday that employees who claim job discrimination should not suffer because of mistakes made by the federal agency charged with investigating their allegations.

The 7-2 ruling allows an age-discrimination lawsuit to proceed against Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp.

The majority opinion by Hon. Anthony Kennedy is critical of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which failed to notify FedEx that 14 employees had filed a complaint. Companies must be told about complaints before discrimination lawsuits can be filed.

As a result of the EEOC's failure to notify, the two sides lost the benefit to engage in an informal dispute-resolution process.

The lower court that will now hear the case "can attempt to remedy this deficiency" by allowing for conciliation and possible settlement, Kennedy wrote.

In dissent, Hon. Clarence Thomas said that the majority of the court is effectively absolving the EEOC of its obligation to administer the law correctly. Thomas, who led the EEOC in the 1980s, was joined by Hon. Antonin Scalia.

The EEOC has acknowledged that it erred in this case, and others, and has said it has tightened its procedures to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Federal law requires plaintiffs to file a complaint with the EEOC and wait 60 days before they sue an employer. The law is intended to give the EEOC the opportunity to notify the company accused of discrimination, investigate the charges and seek to resolve them before a suit is filed.

The FedEx employees said FedEx courier Patricia Kennedy filed a form with the EEOC in December 2001 that included the information necessary to comply with that law and that the suit she and her colleagues filed in April 2002 should be allowed to proceed.

A district court dismissed the case, but the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York City, ruled in March 2006 that the case should be allowed to proceed. The court found that the EEOC's failure to follow through on Kennedy's complaint and to notify FedEx should not preclude the plaintiffs' right to sue.

The case is Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki, 06-1322.