The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled recently that a federal trial court did not err by excluding from evidence two notices of compliance issued by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by three employees under the federal Equal Pay Act, Iowa Civil Rights Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging that the company had engaged in unlawful pay practices. In so ruling, the appeals court rejected the employer’s appeal for a new trial on grounds the OFCCP audit findings were improperly excluded.
The decision by the appeals court in Dindinger v. Allsteel, Inc., No. 16-1305 (8th Cir. April 3, 2017), affirmed a federal trial court’s decision to exclude from a jury’s consideration the fact that OFCCP had twice evaluated and found no evidence of discrimination in the company’s compensation practices. The trial court concluded that admitting OFCCP’s findings would have unfairly prejudiced the jury because it would suggest “that an official fact-finding body had already decided” whether Allsteel had violated the law.
A copy of the Dindinger decision is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.