Tolling agreement

What it is

A tolling agreement is a contract in which a prospective defendant agrees that a filing deadline will be paused, or that it won't assert a limitations defense, for a set period. In employment practice, it lets the parties exchange information or mediate before the right-to-sue filing deadline, or another limitations period, forces a lawsuit.

The rules

For limitations periods in the Code of Civil Procedure, a waiver of the limitations defense must be in writing and signed by the person obligated, and a waiver signed before the deadline expires is effective for no more than four years past the original deadline (Code of Civil Procedure section 360.5). FEHA has its own tolling rules: the one-year deadline after a CRD right-to-sue notice is tolled for the period specified in a written agreement between the CRD and the respondent signed before the deadline expired, and during CRD dispute resolution (Government Code section 12965(c)(1)(F)). Agreements between private parties are read as contracts, so their exact terms govern: which claims, which parties, the start and end dates, and how either side may end the agreement early.

Why it matters to a plaintiff firm

A tolling agreement turns a statutory deadline into a contractual one, and that new date is easy to lose. Firms calendar the end date and any notice-of-termination window the day the agreement is signed, confirm that it covers every claim and defendant, and check that the deadline it pauses had not already run. See the FEHA right-to-sue deadlines guide.