Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Center

118 F.R.D. 484, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13009, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 38,689, 45 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1061
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedDecember 15, 1987
DocketNo. 87 MISC 422
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 118 F.R.D. 484 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri 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 v. St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Center, 118 F.R.D. 484, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13009, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 38,689, 45 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1061 (E.D. Mo. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

CAHILL, District Judge.

The Court has carefully considered applicant’s petition for an order that the subpoe[485]*485na issued upon respondent be complied with, and the report and recommendation of the United States Magistrate concerning said petition.

Wherefore,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the report and recommendation of the United States Magistrate be and it is SUSTAINED AND ADOPTED as the order of this Court.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the petition of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the enforcement of its subpoena against the St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Center is sustained and the respondent is HEREBY ORDERED to comply with said petition to the extent that it has not already done so.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE

November 18, 1987.

DAVID D. NOCE, United States Magistrate.

This cause is before the Court upon the application of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) petitioning for an order that the subpoena issued upon St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Center (the Center), be complied with. This cause was referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate for review and a recommended disposition. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b). A hearing was held on October 30, 1987.

On December 1,1985, Phyllis Morrison, a Caucasian employee of the Center was discharged from employment after being charged with abuse and neglect of a patient. Morrison filed a discrimination charge against the Center with the EEOC on December 11, 1985. She claimed discrimination on the basis of race, because black employees who had also been accused of patient abuse had not been discharged.

The EEOC issued a subpoena which required the Center to provide documents showing information pertaining to investigations of employees accused of patient abuse between December 1, 1984 and December 30, 1985. The Center filed a petition to modify or revoke the subpoena which was denied by the EEOC.

As a result of Respondent’s failure to fully comply with the subpoena, the EEOC brought the present enforcement action.

The subpoena issued by the EEOC requires production of the following information:

1. For each and every person who worked in the charging party’s unit, who was accused of patient abuse at any time during the period December 1, 1984 to December 30, 1985, provide documents to show, in whole or in part, the following information:

a. name;

b. race;

c. employment history, including job titles held and dates each job title was held;

d. disciplinary history, including offense, and type of discipline assessed;

e. all facts underlying the accusation of patient abuse, including the date the abuse was alleged to have occurred;

f. steps taken to investigate the accusation;

g. findings made as a result of the investigation;

h. action taken by the employer as a result of the investigation and findings;

i. if no discipline taken, reason(s) therefor.

Paragraph two of the subpoena required production of documents from the personnel files of three named employees that would show essentially the same information as paragraph one.

The EEOC admits that the Center has partially complied with both paragraphs. With respect to paragraph one, the Center has provided only the name, race and job title of employees for the period of June 1, 1985 to December 30, 1985 and has provided no information for December 1, 1984 to June 1,1985. With respect to paragraph 2, the Center has provided only the name, race, and partial disciplinary history for the three employees.

[486]*486The Center contends that enforcement should be denied because: (1) the subpoena is overly broad, burdensome, and requests irrelevant information; and (2) the subpoena requests records that are confidential under Missouri state law.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing the provisions of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting employment discrimination. 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2, 2000e-3, 2000e-5(a). The investigatory power of the EEOC is defined in § 2000e-8(a) which provides:

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 and is relevant to the charge under investigation.

This section requires that the evidence sought be “relevant to the charge under investigation.” Courts have given a broad construction to the term “relevant” and “have afforded the Commission access to virtually any material that might cast light on the allegations against the employer.” EEOC v. Shell Oil Co., 466 U.S. 54, 68-69, 104 S.Ct. 1621, 1631, 80 L.Ed.2d 41 (1984).

The evidence sought by the EEOC in the present action clearly meets the relevancy requirement. In order for the EEOC to determine whether there is a basis for Morrison’s discrimination claim, it must be able to compare her treatment with that of other employees who were in similar situations. See, EEOC v. University of Pittsburgh, 643 F.2d 983, 985-86 (3rd Cir.1981); Dorsten v. Lapeer County General Hospital, 88 F.R.D. 583, 586 (E.D.Mich.1980). All of the information requested by the subpoena is relevant to this goal.

The subpoena issued by the EEOC seeks information that is relevant to the charge under investigation and must be enforced, unless the Center demonstrates that it is unduly burdensome. EEOC v. Maryland Cup Corp., 785 F.2d 471, 475-76 (4th Cir.1986). The Center must demonstrate that compliance would seriously disrupt the normal operation of its business. Id., at 477.

The Center argues that it would have to devote extra time and employees to comply with the subpoena and as a result effective service to its residents would suffer. The Center does not state how much extra work compliance would involve or why its patients would necessarily have to suffer as a result. The EEOC requests only that the Center provide documents which contain certain information. The Center provides no reason to believe that production of these documents would be unduly burdensome so that its normal business operations would be seriously disrupted.

The Center contends that the subpoena requests confidential information, the disclosure of which is prohibited by Missouri law. The relevant statute provides in pertinent part:

1.

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118 F.R.D. 484, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13009, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 38,689, 45 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-st-louis-developmental-moed-1987.