Linguistics plays a crucial role in investigations under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a regulation focused on combating bribery and corruption in international business transactions. These investigations typically...more
As any seasoned trial attorney will tell you, one of the key events during a jury trial is the reading of the jury instructions to the jury. During the reading of the instructions, for a lengthy amount of time, the jury hears...more
On Thursday, September 3, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued an Opinion Letter shedding light on the agency's own ability to sue employers under Section 707(a) of Title VII of the Civil...more
It is not often that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issues opinion letters. It is less often that the EEOC publicly acknowledges limitations to its enforcement powers. However, both of these events...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued an opinion letter clarifying its authority to bring “pattern and practice” lawsuits under § 707(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The...more
On September 3, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a rare opinion letter confirming its legal interpretation of the EEOC’s ability to sue businesses under Section 707(a) of Title VII of the...more
Thursday the EEOC took the extraordinary step of limiting its own jurisdiction. Section 707 of Title VII empowers the EEOC to bring “pattern and practice” lawsuits to challenge an employer’s “resistance” to the rights...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 3, 2020, the EEOC issued an opinion letter (only its second of the year) regarding the Commission’s interpretation and enforcement of § 707(a) of Title VII, which authorizes the EEOC to sue...more
After more than ten years of protracted litigation brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), including a stop at the U.S. Supreme Court, an Iowa federal district court recently upheld an award of nearly...more
On September 14, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System announced the execution of a settlement with a state bank concerning alleged violations of the National Flood Insurance Act (“NFIA”), 42 U.S.C. §...more
Wage and Hour - Tenth Circuit Aligns with Cumbie on Tip Credits - In Marlow v. New Food Guy, Inc., No. 16-1134, 861 F. 3d 1157 (10th Cir. June 30, 2017), the court affirmed the district court's ruling, consistent with...more
Any employer that has gone through an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation knows one thing is certain: you will have to provide mountains of documents. Normally, the EEOC will informally request...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held that a district court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to enforce a far-reaching EEOC administrative subpoena relating to one...more
On May 17, the Federal Reserve announced the execution of a settlement agreement with a state bank resolving alleged violations of the National Flood Insurance Act (“NFIA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4012a(f), and Regulation H, 12 C.F.R....more
In Arizona Ex Rel. Horne v. The Geo Group, No. 13-16081 (9th Cir. Mar. 14, 2016), the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s summary judgment orders and reinstated a pattern or practice action...more
Last month, the Seventh Circuit again rejected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s attempt to declare an employer’s standard severance agreement illegal under Title VII. The EEOC and CVS Pharmacy have clashed over...more
When CVS fired store manager Tonia Ramos in 2011, it offered her its standard severance agreement that included a broad release of waivable claims, including claims under Title VII, but explicitly preserving the right to...more
In EEOC Silent on Sanctions (August 2013), we reported on CRST Van Expedited, in which a federal district court awarded an employer $4.69 million in attorneys’ fees against the EEOC for the agency’s mishandling of a supposed...more
Court Rejects Doherty's Argument That EEOC Cannot Proceed Without Discrimination Charge and Conciliation, Denies Motion to Dismiss - MIAMI - A federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss a claim for a pattern or...more
The American Bankers Association has sent a letter to the DOJ, Fed, OCC, FDIC, HUD and CFPB requesting confirmation “in interagency guidance, updated exam procedures, and where appropriate amended regulations that the...more
A federal district judge in Hammond, Indiana, has permitted a rail union to pursue injunctive remedies in a Title VII pattern-or-practice discrimination claim on behalf of its black members without compliance with Rule 23. In...more
In February, we commented on the EEOC v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. case, where the EEOC filed a “pattern or practice” lawsuit against CVS in Illinois federal court, claiming that CVS’ employee releases discourage the filing of EEOC...more
Last week, a district court in Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of Freeman, Inc. (“Freeman”), a service provider for corporate events, with respect to a nationwide pattern and practice lawsuit brought by the U.S....more
Last week, the Second Circuit weighed in again on the enforceability of an arbitration provision in Parisi v. Goldman, Sachs & Co., No. 11-5229-cv (2d Cir. Mar. 21, 2013). The provision at issue required employees to pursue...more
Reversing a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in Parisi et al. v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. et al., the Second Circuit held that a plaintiff does not have a substantive right to bring a pattern and practice claim under...more