The next time you receive a charge notice from the EEOC, you have a new reason to fret. According to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the circuit that includes Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, the EEOC is permitted to seek information related to company-wide promotion practices when investigating an individual charge of discrimination.
In EEOC v. Schwan’s Home Services, No. 10-3022 (8th Cir. July 13, 2011), a female employee filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC in 2007 alleging she was harassed, demoted, and ultimately lost her job because of her gender. Specifically, she claimed that she was not promoted to Local General Manager because of her gender, even though she had completed the required General Manager Development Program.
The EEOC commenced an investigation into Schwan’s. In the course of its investigation, the EEOC subpoenaed information from Schwan’s on how many women are local managers, as well as the selection process and graduation rates for the company’s manager training program. The employer refused to comply with the subpoena because the employee had not alleged any class claims and, even if she did, the statute of limitations had lapsed.
The Eighth Circuit disagreed with the employer. According to the court, once the EEOC presents a valid charge of discrimination, it has to show only that the subpoena requests information that “relates to” unlawful employment practices covered by Title VII and “is relevant to the charge under investigation.” While an EEOC subpoena cannot wander into wholly unrelated areas, the “relevancy” requirement is “not especially constraining” and includes any evidence that “might cast light on the allegations.”
The court found the information sought in the subpoena within the scope of the EEOC’s investigatory authority, citing the employee’s allegation that if she had completed the company’s manager training program, she would have been one of only two female local managers out of 500 such managers nationwide. The employee had also claimed Schwan’s had rejected one female applicant for management because she had children at home.
Bottom Line
The EEOC has broad power to subpoena information from an employer under investigation. The EEOC can subpoena information relevant to systemic discrimination even absent a valid systemic charge, whenever an investigation into a charge of individual discrimination reveals potential companywide discrimination.