Cite as: 534 U. S. 533 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
reached this holding despite the inclusion in the waiver provision of a limitations period shorter than the one for suits against private parties.
The waiver at issue in this case is more unequivocally expressed than the one in Irwin. Minnesota has consented to suit under the MHRA by agreeing to be treated in the same manner as a private employer.10 The 45-day limitations period is thus applicable to any suit under the MHRA, not only those against state entities. In light of such a clear consent to suit, unencumbered by any special limitations period, it is evident that tolling under § 1367(d) similarly "amounts to little, if any, broadening of the [legislature's] waiver." 11 Ibid. Given the fact that the timely filing in Federal Court served the purposes of the 45-day period,12 it
10 See Minn. Stat. § 363.01, subds. 17 and 28 (2000) (defining "employer" to include private entities and "the state and its departments, agencies, and political subdivisions").
11 It is true enough that we "ha[ve] never held that waivers of a State's immunity presumptively include all federal tolling rules," ante, at 543. Of course, we have never held to the contrary, either. But surely our federal sovereign immunity cases shed great light on the question, given our similarly strict analyses of waivers in federal and state sovereign immunity cases. See College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Ed. Expense Bd., 527 U. S. 666, 682 (1999) ("[I]n the context of federal sovereign immunity—obviously the closest analogy to the present case— it is well established that waivers are not implied. . . . We see no reason why the rule should be different with respect to state sovereign immunity" (citation omitted)).
As the Court observes, ante, at 542-543, our federal sovereign immunity cases recognize that a limitations period may serve as a central condition of waiver. The teaching of Irwin, however, is that even when a limitations period is a "condition to the waiver of sovereign immunity and thus must be strictly construed," 498 U. S., at 94, application of tolling to that period is presumptively permissible. I can "see no reason why the rule should be different with respect to state sovereign immunity." College Savings Bank, 527 U. S., at 682.
12 The university received notice of the claim and was able to take part fully in the prosecution of the litigation by engaging in extensive discovery and participating in mediation.
553
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