Cite as: 535 U. S. 106 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
allowing a later oath to relate back to an earlier charge. The majority reasoned that the verification and filing provisions in § 706 of Title VII 3 were interdependent in defining "charge": "Because a charge requires verification . . . , and because a charge must be filed within the limitations period, . . . it follows that a charge must be verified within the limitations period." Id., at 508.
Judge Luttig concurred only in the judgment. Id., at 512- 513. He said that although the majority probably had "the better interpretation" of the statute, id., at 513, its reading of the filing and verification requirements as one was not compelled by the language, and the court was "bound to give deference" to the EEOC's construction, ibid. He nonetheless joined in the judgment for the District Court's reasons.
Because of a conflict among the Courts of Appeals,4 we
granted certiorari, 533 U. S. 928 (2001), and now reverse.
3 Section 706(b) reads in relevant part that "[w]henever a charge is filed by or on behalf of a person claiming to be aggrieved, or by a member of the Commission, alleging that an employer . . . has engaged in an unlawful employment practice, the Commission shall serve a notice of the charge . . . on such employer . . . within ten days, and shall make an investigation thereof. Charges shall be in writing under oath or affirmation and shall contain such information and be in such form as the Commission requires." 42 U. S. C. § 2000e-5(b). As to filing, § 706(e)(1) provides that "[a] charge under this section shall be filed within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred and notice of the charge . . . shall be served upon the person against whom such charge is made within ten days thereafter, except that in a case of an unlawful employment practice with respect to which the person aggrieved has initially instituted proceedings with a State or local agency with authority to grant or seek relief from such practice . . . , such charge shall be filed . . . within three hundred days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred." § 2000e-5(e)(1).
4 Compare, e. g., 228 F. 3d 503, 509 (CA4 2000) (case below); Shempert v. Harwick Chemical Corp., 151 F. 3d 793, 796-797 (CA8 1998), with Philbin v. General Electric Capital Auto Lease, Inc., 929 F. 2d 321, 323-324 (CA7 1991) (per curiam); Peterson v. Wichita, 888 F. 2d 1307, 1308 (CA10 1989),
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