Webb v. Westinghouse Electric Corp.

81 F.R.D. 431, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1231, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 589, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7192, 20 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,145
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided December 18, 1978·No. Civ. A. No. 76-172·Published·Cited by 50 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HUYETT, District Judge.

Plaintiffs in this class action employment discrimination action have filed several motions to compel discovery pursuant to Fed. [433]*433R.Civ.P. 37. Following a conference held in chambers for the purpose of discussing the discovery disputes which have arisen, we now issue this memorandum stating our disposition of the motions.

Defendant Westinghouse’s objections to plaintiffs’ discovery requests fall roughly into two major categories. First, Westinghouse objects to much of the discovery on the ground that the information requested consists of “self-critical analysis” of Westinghouse’s employment policies and affirmative action programs, and that such material is therefore shielded from discovery under the reasoning adopted by this court in Droughn v. FMC Corporation, C.A. No. 75-3094 (November 11, 1977) and Wehr v. Burroughs Corporation, C.A. No. 76-587 (May 6, 1977). Second, Westinghouse objects to discovery which requests compilations where such compilations have not previously been prepared by Westinghouse for other purposes. Westinghouse contends that, by providing plaintiffs with the raw data necessary to make such compilations, it has complied with Fed.R.Civ.P. 33(c). We will discuss each of these objections separately and attempt to resolve them in principle prior to making rulings on specific interrogatories and document requests.

I. Privilege of “Self-Critical” Analysis

Several courts, including this court, have shielded from discovery certain subjective material constituting “self-critical analysis” of an employers’ equal employment opportunity goals and policies. See Droughn v. FMC, supra; Wehr v. Burroughs, supra; Dickerson v. United States Steel Corp., 13 E.P.D. ¶ 11,311 (E.D.Pa.1976) (Dickerson II); Dickerson v. United States Steel Corp., 12 E.P.D. ¶ 11,095 (E.D.Pa.1976) (Dickerson I); Sanday v. Carnegie-Mellon University, 11 E.P.D. ¶ 10,659 (W.D.Pa.1975); Banks v. Lockheed-Georgia Co., 53 F.R.D. 283 (N.D.Ga.1971). The “self-critical analysis” defense to discovery has generally, but not always, been recognized in cases where the plaintiff has requested production of reports which are required to be filed with the Government, such as the EEO-1 Reports. Westinghouse would have this court expand the doctrine beyond the situations in which it has been applied in the past. Therefore, in connection with this motion, we are required to examine the source and extent of the defense raised by Westinghouse and to define some guidelines for determining the circumstances which would justify shielding from discovery items constituting “self-critical analysis.”

The theoretical basis for the defense of “self-critical analysis” stems from the public policy which recognizes that voluntary compliance by employers with federal equal employment opportunity laws is essential for implementation of the policy of equal opportunity in employment. In furtherance of voluntary compliance, employers must be encouraged to be candid and forthright in assessing their employment practices and setting goals and timetables for eradicating policies deemed to be discriminatory in operation or effect. If subjective materials constituting “self-critical analysis” are subject to disclosure during discovery, this disclosure would tend to have a “chilling effect” on an employer’s voluntary compliance with equal employment opportunity laws.

On the other hand, federal equal employment opportunity laws manifest a strong policy in favor of eradicating all vestiges of employment discrimination due to race, sex, or national origin. In furtherance of this policy, plaintiffs must be permitted to obtain information sufficient to enable them to prove employment discrimination where such discrimination exists. To the extent that the defense of “self-critical analysis” conflicts with a plaintiff’s ability to gather information necessary to prove his or her case, the recognition of such a defense hampers the enforcement of federal equal employment laws.

In view of the strong countervailing policies extant here, we believe that it is necessary to limit carefully the situations in which “self-critical analysis” may be raised as a justification for resisting discovery. Carried to its logical extreme, such a privilege would foreclose discovery of material [434]*434which might be most strongly probative of discriminatory intent. In an attempt to define the boundaries of this defense, we examine the case law to see the circumstances where the defense was upheld.

In Dickerson I, supra, and Sanday v. Carnegie-Mellon University, supra, the courts upheld the employers’ objections to production of Affirmative Action Plans submitted to the Government pursuant to Executive Order 11246. In Droughn v. FMC Corp., supra, this court extended the same reasoning to EEO-1 reports and exempted them from discovery. The major justification for excluding such material from discovery is that, in view of the fact that the filing of such reports is mandatory, the policy favoring equal opportunity in employment requires that employers be encouraged to be candid and complete in preparing such reports. As the Dickerson I court noted, “The quality of these documents depends to a great extent on the good faith of employers in evaluating their progress and establishing affirmative action goals. If these materials are subject to discovery and can be used by plaintiffs in Title VII suits, employers will not make candid evaluations and will attempt to set goals at minimum levels.” Dickerson I, supra.

Several additional observations may be made about the Dickerson I, Droughn, and Sanday cases. In all of those cases, the objective information contained in the reports was available to plaintiffs through other discovery channels. The courts were clearly shielding only subjective evaluative material from discovery, presumably on the theory that the public policy argument favorable to employers would not apply with ■respect to objective data. See Dickerson I, supra. Additionally, so long as the objective date were otherwise made available to the plaintiffs, the denial of production of the reports themselves would not cause harm to the plaintiffs’ case.

In Dickerson I, the court also denied plaintiffs’ motion to compel production of materials compiled by United States Steel pursuant to a Consent Decree, to the extent that such documents contained “critical self-evaluation”. The court reasoned that voluntary compliance was an important policy under the consent decree as well. We note that discovery was denied only after the relevant portions of the consent decree had been reviewed in camera.

Finally, in Banks v. Lockheed-Georgia Co., supra, and Wehr v. Burroughs, supra, subjective, evaluative materials prepared in the course of developing Governmental reports were shielded from discovery. However, special circumstances in each case suggest to us that this type of material may not always be precluded from discovery. In Wehr, the defendants were seeking an order compelling the return of material prepared by defendant’s former employee which had been obtained by plaintiff outside of normal discovery channels. The material contained in these reports was clearly available to the plaintiff through normal discovery devices. In Banks,

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Webb v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 81 F.R.D. 431, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1231, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 589, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7192, 20 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,145 (E.D. Pa. 1978).

81 F.R.D. 431 (Webb v. Westinghouse Electric Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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