The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the main federal agency that investigates claims of employment discrimination. The recent rulings from the United States Supreme limiting some federal agency powers do not impact investigatory power.
Title VII is the federal anti-discrimination law. Before an employee can file a lawsuit alleging a violation of Title VII, the employee must file what is called a “Charge of Discrimination” with the EEOC. The EEOC will assign an investigator to process the charge.
Often, the investigator is relatively hands off. usually, the investigator will receive each side’s position and conclude the matter by issuing the employee a “Right to Sue.” The Right to Sue is the employee’s ticket to file a lawsuit.
Sometimes, however, the investigation by the EEOC goes deeper and the EEOC will issue a subpoena for documents. Keep in mind, this is BEFORE there is a lawsuit.
A company called Cambridge Transportation, Inc. (“Cambridge”) found out the hard way that ignoring an EEOC subpoena can have serious consequences.
On July 8, 2024, Cambridge was hit with a $100/day fine because it did not hand over information requested by the EEOC to aid its investigation into claims that the company underpaid a female driver out of bias. According to the federal judge, the fines began accruing June 7, 2024.
The EEOC was investigating an allegation that Cambridge discriminated against a worker based on her race, gender and disability. Cambridge responded to workers charge of discrimination by claiming that she was an independent contractor and that it only had six total employees (a company needs a minimum of 15 employees to be covered by Title VII).
The EEOC required additional information to determine, among other things, whether Cambridge was covered under Title VII. So, it sent Cambridge a subpoena requesting the worker’s personnel file, the pay rate of all drivers and details about their race and gender. Cambridge provided some, but not all the requested information.
Apparently, Cambridge previously ignored an earlier court order requiring full compliance with the EEOC’s subpoena. Then, Cambridge did not attend a June court hearing. Instead, supposedly Cambridge told the EEOC that it hired a lawyer, but the lawyer was on vacation, and it would comply with the court’s order by June 10.
June 10 came and went and still, no compliance, hence the sanctions order from the federal judge. Frankly, I’m surprised that the fine was only $100/day.
Based on what I know, it looks like Cambridge did not have a lawyer handle the response to the charge of discrimination. Any seasoned labor and employment lawyer imposing the “we don’t have enough employees to be covered by Title VII” defense knows to provide the EEOC the employment records immediately, before the EEOC asks for the documents. The EEOC isn’t going to take anyone’s word for it that an employer has less than 15 employees.
This is a classic example of a company apparently forging ahead without counsel pre-suit. What happens pre-suit matters, sometimes more so than what happens during the actual lawsuit.
If you get something, anything from the EEOC, get a lawyer.