Tenth Circuit Refuses To Enforce Overly Broad EEOC Subpoena

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, agreeing with arguments made by NT Lakis lawyers in our “friend-of-the-court” brief, has refused to enforce an administrative subpoena issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The appeals court concluded, as our brief contended, that the EEOC’s attempt to subpoena company-wide data that had no relevance to the allegations of the individual disability and pregnancy discrimination charges under investigation went beyond the agency’s statutory authority.

The Tenth Circuit’s ruling in EEOC v. TriCore Reference Laboratories (10th Cir. Feb. 27, 2017), is another important counterpunch to the EEOC’s practice of issuing overly broad subpoenas for company-wide information despite the lack of connection to the charge under investigation, and reinforces critical limitations on the EEOC’s authority to burden employers by demanding irrelevant information in an attempt to find systemic discrimination.

A copy of the Tenth Circuit’s opinion in TriCore is available here.

Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.