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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

GREGORY CARSON, et al.,

) Plaintiffs ) ) ) ) v. ) ) ) GIANT FOOD, INC., et al., ) ) Defendants ) ____________________________________)

Civil Action No.: JFM-96-2882

OPINION

Eleven plaintiffs have instituted this action against Giant Food, Inc. and several of its executives and managers, alleging employment discrimination. Nine of the plaintiffs have filed a motion for class certification. Although the propriety of class action treatment appeared doubtful on the face of the complaint, I did not want to judge the issue prematurely, particularly in light of allegations concerning racist graffiti, racial epithets used by co-workers and supervisors, and the display of nooses at Giant's warehouses. Accordingly, I permitted a full factual record to be developed before ruling on the class certification motion. That motion is now pending, together with motions for summary judgment filed by defendants as to the individual claims of each of the plaintiffs. This opinion addresses several global issues raised by the litigation, relating to (1) class certification, (2) the effect of "early" right-to-sue notices issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), (3) the applicability of the "continuing violation" doctrine -1-

to plaintiffs' claims, (4) the cognizability of various state law claims, and (5) a claim under 42 U.S.C.

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