Cite as: 536 U. S. 101 (2002)
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
forfeited. In other words, a hostile environment is a form of discrimination that occurs every day; some of those daily occurrences may be time barred, while others are not.
The Court's treatment of hostile environment claims as constituting a single occurrence leads to results that contradict the policies behind 42 U. S. C. § 2000e-5(e)(1). Consider an employee who has been subjected to a hostile work environment for 10 years. Under the Court's approach, such an employee may, subject only to the uncertain restrictions of equity, see ante, at 122, sleep on his or her rights for a decade, bringing suit only in year 11 based in part on actions for which a charge could, and should, have been filed many years previously in accordance with the statutory mandate. § 2000e-5(e)(1) ("A charge under this section shall be filed [within 180 or 300 days] after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred"). Allowing suits based on such remote actions raises all of the problems that statutes of limitations and other similar time limitations are designed to address:
"Statutes of limitation . . . promote justice by preventing surprises through the revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories have faded, and witnesses have disappeared. The theory is that even if one has a just claim it is unjust not to put the adversary on notice to defend within the period of limitation and that the right to be free of stale claims in time comes to prevail over the right to prosecute them." Railroad Telegraphers v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 321 U. S. 342, 348-349 (1944).
Although the statute's 2-year limitation on backpay partially addresses these concerns, § 2000e-5(g)(1), under the Court's view, liability may still be assessed and other sorts of damages (such as damages for pain and suffering) awarded based on long-past occurrences. An employer asked to defend such stale actions, when a suit challenging them could have
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