Mach Mining v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Case Updates

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Seventh Circuit and remanded the case. The Court held that courts have authority to review whether the EEOC has fulfilled its Title VII duty to attempt conciliation. The appropriate scope of judicial review of the EEOC’s conciliation activities is narrow, enforcing only the EEOC’s statutory obligation to give the employer notice and an opportunity to achieve voluntary compliance.

The U.S. Chamber filed a coalition brief at the merits stage urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Seventh Circuit's holding that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) conciliation efforts were not judicially reviewable and that actually eliminating judicial review of the conciliation duty will promote conciliation.

The Chamber filed the brief jointly with the Retail Litigation Center, the National Federation of Independent Small Business Legal Center, American Trucking Associations, Inc.

Eric S. Dreiband, Shay Dvoretzky, and Jacob M. Roth of Jones Day, LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center.

In its coalition brief, the Chamber asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Seventh Circuit’s decision holding that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) conciliation efforts were not judicially reviewable and that actually eliminating judicial review of the conciliation duty will promote conciliation. The Chamber argues that Title VII’s enforcement history illustrates that the EEOC overlooks meaningful conciliation, choosing to sue first and negotiate later. The Chamber points out that no court, since Title VII’s enactment, has adopted the EEOC’s position that judicial review is entirely prohibited. The Chamber also mentions that the Court of Appeal’s conclusion is refuted by legislative history since Congress rejected a bill that expressly made conciliation non-reviewable, in a compromise to those skeptics of the EEOC who demanded more judicial oversight. Finally, the Chamber notes that refusing to enforce the conciliation obligation will result in less conciliation and more litigation.

The Chamber filed the brief jointly with the Retail Litigation Center, the National Federation of Independent Small Business Legal Center, American Trucking Associations, Inc.

Eric S. Dreiband, Shay Dvoretzky, and Jacob M. Roth of Jones Day, LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center.