EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, Defendant-Appellant

504 F.2d 1296, 8 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1037, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6299, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9758
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 30, 1974
Docket74-1119
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 504 F.2d 1296 (EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, Defendant-Appellant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, Defendant-Appellant, 504 F.2d 1296, 8 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1037, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6299, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9758 (10th Cir. 1974).

Opinion

BARRETT, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is taken by the University of New Mexico (University) from an order entered by the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, requiring it to comply with a subpoena duces tecum which had been served upon it by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) during the EEOC’s investigation of a charge of unlawful employment discrimination filed against the University by Dr. Jovan Djuric, an associate professor in the University’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.

On January 26, 1971, Dean Richard Dove of the University’s College of Engineering submitted a memorandum to Dr. Djuric notifying him that he was recommending to the President of the University that proceedings be undertaken to terminate Djuric’s services for, inter alia, want of fulfillment by Djuric of his contract obligations and failure to remedy the “serious negative attitude” which Dove had previously brought to Djuric’s attention per memo of October 9, 1970.

Dr. Djuric thereafter on November 1, 1971, filed a complaint of unlawful discrimination “in salary and promotion” from 1966 to “the present” against the University (naming, individually, President Heady, Vice President Travelstead, Professor Koschmann and Dean Dove), with the State of New Mexico Human Rights Commission. He alleged employment discrimination based upon his ancestry and national origin (Yugoslavian) and his religious creed. On May 14, 1973, the Human Rights Commission dismissed his complaint, specifically finding that Djuric, while represented *1299 by competent counsel, failed to “make out a case for relief.”

On January 21, 1972, Victor W. Bolie, Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, wrote to Dr. Djuric regarding Djuric’s alleged continuing inadequacies as an Associate Professor within that Department. He set forth twelve specific statements or “causes” of lack of minimum professional standards in “performance and behavior” as a staff member during the 1971 fall semester. Our examination discloses that none of the twelve causes could be in anywise associated or related to ancestry, national origin or religious creed.

Termination proceedings were instituted on May 26, 1972, by means of a formal “Notice of Intention to Terminate” Djuric’s employment as of June 20, 1973, executed by President Heady. The notice was submitted to Djuric with attachments setting forth causes, including the memorandum dated May 16, 1972, signed by Chairman Bolie and each of the seven full professors of Djuric’s Department, recommending the institution of dismissal proceedings, in light of Dr. Djuric’s alleged “poor performance and antagonistic attitude” which they stated to be ‘‘unacceptable and detrimental” to the Department. We view the memo as extremely relevant and significant. Chairman Bolie and each of the full professors had, just as Djuric, attained doctorate degrees. On August 17, 1972, Chairman Bolie again notified Djuric of specific causes evidencing Djuric’s “continuing refusal” to carry his “share of the workload in this department” by alleged refusal to teach two “lab sections” during the Fall Semester of 1972.

On September 5, 1972, Dr. Djuric filed a charge with the EEOC alleging:

“After filing a charge with the Human Rights Commission of New Mexico, and the State having found probable cause, on or about May 25, 1972, the University retaliated against me by informing me that my services would be terminated as of June 30, 1973.”
“I am being discriminated against because of my national origin, Yugoslav.”

During the course of the investigation of the above charge, the University supplied the EEOC with requested information including: (a) records or lists of all terminations which occurred at the College of Engineering from September 1, 1970 to the present, revealing race or national origin, position hired into, date of hire, starting salary, ending salary, date of termination and reason for termination; (b) copies of memorandums or letters that any other terminated employees received if any terminations were for the same reason as Dr. Djuric’s; (c) a complete copy of Dr. Djuric’s personnel file; (d) all records or minutes held by the Engineering Department which led to the decision to terminate Djuric’s services; and (e) a statement as to why the decision was made in May of 1972 to terminate Dr. Djuric. Thereafter, in order to conduct a more “thorough and complete investigation of the charge” the EEOC requested the University to provide further information. The University refused to do so, contending that the EEOC request was not relevant to the charge and was too broad. On May 16, 1973, the EEOC issued a subpoena duces tecum for the production of the requested additional information, to-wit:

1. Copies of personnel files of those faculty members terminated from the College of Engineering from January, 1970, to May 14, 1973.
2. Copies of personnel files of all faculty members in the College of Engineering as of May 14, 1973.

Following the University’s refusal to comply with the subpoena, the EEOC petitioned the District Court for an order requiring obedience thereto. The Trial Court conducted hearings on August 24 and November 1, 1973. On November 2 the Court entered a “Memorandum Opinion” holding, inter alia, *1300 that “the files sought by the Commission should contain evidence relevant to the area of inquiry of the Commission. It would be relevant to determine if any similar situations had occurred in the College, and if so, whether comparable action had been taken. As the party being investigated, it would not be appropriate for the University to have the authority to determine which files might contain evidence of comparable situations having occurred in the College.” On December 3, 1973, the District Court entered its Order directing the University to produce the records and papers described in the subpoena and to make them available for inspection by the EEOC within 30 days. This appeal followed. The judgment appealed from is final and the notice of appeal presents issues for review by this Court. Joslin Dry Goods Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 483 F.2d 178 (10th Cir. 1973).

The pertinent statutes involved in this action are:

Section 709(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-8(a):

In connection with any investigation of a charge filed under section 2000e-5 of this title, the Commission or its designated representative shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purposes of examination, and the right to copy any evidence of any person being investigated or proceeded against that relates to unlawful employment practices covered by this subchapter (42 U.S.C.A. §§ 2000e-2000e-17) and is relevant to the charge under investigation.

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-9 provides, inter alia:

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504 F.2d 1296, 8 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1037, 1974 U.S. App. LEXIS 6299, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-plaintiff-appellee-v-university-ca10-1974.