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Opinion of O'Connor, J.
been brought in a much more timely manner, may rightly complain of precisely this sort of unjust treatment.
The Court is correct that nothing in § 2000e-5(e)(1) can be read as imposing a cap on damages. But reading § 2000e- 5(e)(1) to require that a plaintiff bring an EEOC charge within 180 or 300 days of the time individual incidents constituting a hostile work environment occur or lose the ability to bring suit based on those incidents is not equivalent to transforming it into a damages cap. The limitation is one on liability. The restriction on damages for occurrences too far in the past follows only as an obvious consequence.
Nor, as the Court claims, would reading § 2000e-5(e)(1) as limiting hostile environment claims conflict with Title VII's allowance of backpay liability for a period of up to two years prior to a charge's filing. § 2000e-5(g)(1). Because of the potential adjustments to the charge-filing period based on equitable doctrines, two years of backpay will sometimes be available even under my view. For example, two years of backpay may be available where an employee failed to file a timely charge with the EEOC because his employer deceived him in order to conceal the existence of a discrimination claim.
The Court also argues that it makes "little sense" to base relief on the charge-filing period, since that period varies depending on whether the State or political subdivision where the violation occurs has designated an agency to deal with such claims. See ante, at 119. The Court concludes that "[s]urely . . . we cannot import such a limiting principle . . . where its effect would be to make the reviewable time period for liability dependent upon whether an employee lives in a State that has its own remedial scheme." Ante, at 120. But this is precisely the principle the Court has adopted for discrete discriminatory acts—depending on where a plaintiff lives, the time period changes as to which discrete discriminatory actions may be reviewed. The justification for the variation is the same for discrete discrimina-
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