Dive Brief:
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's most recent win in a court case, one involving an undocumented worker, is a prime example of the EEOC's broadening reach, according to Business Insurance.
- In the case, the EEOC gained subpoena power over an employer in a discrimination complaint filed by an undocumented worker.
- Specifically, Business Insurance reports that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., reversed a lower court ruling, holding the EEOC had the authority at an early stage of the proceedings to pursue a subpoena in the case.
Dive Insight:
According to BI, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit said the trial court mistakenly refused to authorize this “very preliminary step,” adding that “Courts may uphold the agency's subpoena authority without the need to pass on its view of Title VII's coverage of undocumented workers."
The 4th Circuit panel also said in its ruling that the EEOC's investigation into the charges is “at least plausibly and arguably related to the authority that Congress conferred upon the commission. This is not a case where the agency went rogue or jumped the tracks and sought to investigate something unrelated to its statutory charge.”
Two employment attorneys, Paul Starkman, of Clark Hill P.L.C. in Chicago, and Emily S. Borna, a principal at Jackson Lewis P.C., told BI that the ruling is part of a growing trend.
Starkman told BI that it interesting “how broadly many courts have viewed the EEOC's subpoena power." Courts that scrutinize EEOC subpoenas have become the "minority," he added.
