Abuse of Discretion

Listen to this article

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Union Pacific Railroad Company

Case No.: 15-3452

Officials: ROVNER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and CONLEY, District Judge.

Focus:  Abuse of Discretion

Union Pacific Railroad challenges the legal authority of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to continue an enforcement action after issuing a right to sue letter and subsequent resolution of the underlying charges of discrimination in a private lawsuit. The EEOC petitioned the district court to enforce its subpoena for Union Pacific’s employment records related to these charges. After denying Union Pacific’s motion to dismiss for lack of authority to maintain the investigation under Title VII and the EEOC’s own regulations, the district court granted the petition, prompting this appeal. While an issue of first impression in this circuit, similar challenges have created a split in authority between the Fifth Circuit in EEOC v. Hearst, 103 F.3d 462 (5th Cir. 1997), and more recently the Ninth Circuit in EEOC v. Federal Express Corporation, 558 F.3d 842 (9th Cir. 2009). Both the United States Supreme Court and this court have repeatedly recognized the EEOC’s broad role in promoting the public interest by preventing employment discrimination under Title VII, including its independent authority to investigate charges of discrimination, especially at a company‐wide level. Accordingly, we agree with the district court that neither the issuance of a right‐to‐sue letter nor the entry of judgment in a lawsuit brought by the individuals who originally filed the charges against Union Pacific bars the EEOC from continuing its own investigation.

While Union Pacific contends that the information sought extends beyond the allegations in the underlying charges, this argument is premised on the same overly narrow view of the role of the EEOC already rejected in this opinion above. Moreover, the information sought in the subpoena might well “cast light on the allegations against the employer,” thus satisfying the relevance requirement, or at least the district court did not abuse its discretion in so finding. Accordingly, the district court’s order enforcing the subpoena is AFFIRMED.

Affirmed

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.