In a rebuke to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has thrown out a controversial lawsuit brought by the agency that challenged the legality of severance agreements containing a waiver and release of claims.
Agreeing with arguments that NT Lakis lawyers put forth in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case, the decision by the appeals court in EEOC v. CVS Pharmacy, No. 14-3653 (7th Cir. December 17, 2015), found not only that the EEOC failed to engage in any sort of pre-suit conciliation as required by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but also that the agency failed to present a viable claim that the company actually discriminated.
Importantly, in so ruling, the Seventh Circuit explicitly rejected the EEOC’s contention that the mere act of offering a release in exchange for severance benefits could deter the filing of discrimination charges and, for that reason, amounts to an unlawful pattern or practice of “resistance” to the full enjoyment of Title VII rights generally.
A copy of the CVS decision is available here.