The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has reaffirmed its view that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has broad authority under the laws enforced by the agency to demand information from employers as part of a discrimination investigation, even where that information does not appear to be relevant to the charge that initiated the investigation.
Citing favorably to its earlier ruling in EEOC v. Roadway Express, Inc., 261 F.3d 634, 638 (6th Cir. 2001), the appeals court in EEOC v. United Parcel Service, Inc., No. 16-2132 (June 9, 2017), affirmed a lower court decision upholding an EEOC subpoena demanding company-wide information as part of an agency investigation involving alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The case stemmed from a discrimination charge filed by an employee who claimed the company posted confidential information about his medical condition on the company’s intranet in violation of the ADA. As part of its investigation, the agency’s subpoena sought company-wide information on how UPS stored and disclosed its employees’ medical information.
In upholding the subpoena, the Sixth Circuit found that the company-wide evidence sought was relevant because it might show a “pattern” of such unlawful use of medical information. The court also observed that although evidence sought through an EEOC subpoena must be relevant to the charge under investigation, this limitation does not force the EEOC only to review evidence concerning the specific charge.
A copy of the Sixth Circuit’s decision in EEOC v. UPS is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.