Dive Brief:
- A 2024 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination charge constituted an overly broad and vague “fishing expedition” that should be blocked by a federal judge, the board of education for New Mexico’s Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools district alleged in a lawsuit filed Aug. 8.
- Per the complaint, then-Commissioner Andrea Lucas submitted a charge alleging that the district discriminated on the basis of race in its hiring practices. The district claimed that EEOC refused a request for information about the charge’s basis, violating its due process rights. It further claimed that EEOC’s request for information was so overbroad as to exceed its investigative authority.
- The plaintiffs also alleged procedural errors on EEOC’s part, claiming the agency failed to allow sufficient time for a local fair employment practice agency with jurisdiction over the case the opportunity to process the charge instead of EEOC. The commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Dive Insight:
The board of education claimed that EEOC violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process. A portion of the complaint alleged that EEOC’s request that the district produce five years’ worth of confidential employee and applicant information did not properly consider the privacy interests of affected parties.
Noting that the vast majority of the district's students and employees are Native American, the complaint said Lucas had asserted "broad and vague claims without any factual support of systemic discrimination toward Native Americans."
“If the EEOC’s investigation is allowed to proceed, sensitive personal information of employees and applicants may be disclosed to the government despite the government’s complete lack of authority to obtain it,” the plaintiffs wrote. “Each of these individuals and entities will be irreparably harmed.”
The complaint also noted that EEOC currently lacks a quorum, and the plaintiffs alleged that “all actions by the EEOC, thus far, are contrary to law and outside of Defendants’ authority and outside a quorum of the Commission.”
EEOC requests for information have been of particular concern this year due to the agency’s public commitment to cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. One attorney previously told HR Dive that employers may want to consider taking a number of steps before responding to an EEOC letter or information request, such as negotiating the scope of such requests and providing a position statement.
