EEOC v. Freeman

Case Updates

After the Fourth Circuit's decision against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) for prejudicially delaying its discrimination charge against the defendant employer, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ordered the EEOC pay the defendant nearly $1 million in attorneys' fees.

In its brief, the U.S. Chamber asked the Fourth Circuit to affirm the district court’s decision and reject the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) attempt to rewrite Title VII’s statutory procedures. The brief argues that the EEOC failed to isolate a particular employment practice which caused disparate impact. The brief also points out that the alleged violations occurred more than 300 days before the initial charge of discrimination. Finally, the brief explains that allowing the EEOC’s investigations to go back to the initial charge and benefit from such delay is prejudicial to employers, which is precisely what Congress sought to prevent in enacting Title VII. If an employer is unaware of pending allegations, it can’t correct the alleged discrimination and also can’t preserve evidence of its efforts to comply with Title VII in the first place.

Eric S. Dreiband and Emily J. Kennedy of Jones Day represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center.