Seyfarth Synopsis: An Alabama district court granted a temporary staffing company’s motion to dismiss all claims in one of the EEOC’s most high-profile lawsuits asserting hiring discrimination and abuse of vulnerable workers. The ruling illustrates the procedural defenses that employers possess to ensure that pre-lawsuit investigations undertaken by the EEOC accord with its obligations under

Christopher J. DeGroff
Christopher is a partner in the Labor and Employment Department in the Firm’s Chicago office, with a practice largely focused on multi-plaintiff and class/collective actions. Mr. DeGroff’s class action experience spans the scope of employment law theories. Mr. DeGroff also has extensive experience litigating against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), both at the early charge stage and in large-scale EEOC pattern-and-practice litigation. Mr. DeGroff has developed innovative strategies for addressing wide-ranging governmental requests for information and has handled complex regional and national EEOC investigations, typially resulting in no action being taken against our clients at all. When the EEOC has resorted to litigation, Mr. DeGroff has been instrumental in defending our clients against these often high-profile systemic cases, working with any number of class action teams to achieve efficient and effective case resolution. Mr. DeGroff’s class experience also includes a significant understanding of emerging electronic discovery issues, and has conducted speeches and published articles on electronic discovery and other high-technology issues.
No Means No – Judge Limits The EEOC’s Claims In Bass Pro Case (Again)
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the high-profile EEOC race discrimination litigation against Bass Pro, the Court denied the EEOC’s motion for a ruling that would have allowed it to include in its § 706 claims those individuals who had not yet applied to work for Bass Pro when the mandatory Title VII conciliation process took place.
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Not Impressed By The Chutzpah: Court Refuses To Bless The EEOC’s Attempt To Create A New Form Of Pattern Or Practice Litigation
By Christopher DeGroff, and Matthew Gagnon
Judge John Darrah of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a decision this week in the EEOC’s landmark case against CVS Pharmacy. As we have previously blogged about here, in EEOC v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Case No. 14-CV-863 (N.D. Ill.), the…
Saying Good-Bye To The Failure To Conciliate Defense? – Seventh Circuit Set To Decide Whether Courts Have Any Power To Review EEOC Conciliations
By Christopher DeGroff, Matthew Gagnon, and Reema Kapur
Will the Seventh Circuit immunize the entire conciliation process from judicial review? It will if the EEOC has its way.
The EEOC is pressing its view that the courts do not have any authority to review how it conducts the conciliation process. It has made…
Seyfarth Shaw Submits Guidance To The EEOC On Its Quality Control Plan “Draft Principles”
By Rebecca Bromet, and Christopher DeGroff
On May 10, 2013, the EEOC released its Quality Control Plan (“QCP”) draft principles. In an accompanying press release, the EEOC said that the “[Quality Control Plan] will revise criteria to measure the quality of agency investigations and conciliations throughout the nation.”
If the Plan is…
“Historic” Verdict In EEOC v. Hill Country Farms Reduced To $1.6 Million But Litigation Continues As EEOC Seeks Injunctive Relief Against Defunct Company
By Christopher DeGroff, and Reema Kapur
We previously reported that the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) secured a verdict of $240 million in its lawsuit against Hill Country Farms last week. Read our previous blog post here.
The EEOC trumpeted the verdict in a post-trial press release, but did not…
EEOC Obtains Record-Smashing $240 Million Verdict In ADA Case
By Christopher DeGroff, and Reema Kapur
On May 1, 2013, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) secured a jury award of $240 million in an ADA case. The verdict is the largest ever obtained by the EEOC, a fact it is already touting on its website.
The verdict was handed down in …
Inadmissible Hearsay Rots Away Remaining EEOC Apple-Orchard Retaliation Claims
By Christopher DeGroff and Robb McFadden
Fresh on the heels of a full defense verdict in one of the EEOC’s highest profile sexual harassment cases of 2012-2013, the Commission was dealt another blow on April 19, 2013, when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington dismissed a closely related retaliation case because…
EEOC Apple-Orchard Case Chopped Down By Washington Jury
By Christopher DeGroff, and Laura Maechtlen
After years of smash-mouth litigation, it was a clean sweep for a large agri-business employer this week in one of the EEOC’s highest profile cases of 2012-2013 – a full defense verdict on April 3, 2013 by a jury of seven men and two women in the U.S.…
EEOC-Initiated Litigation Webinar: Case Law Developments In 2012 And Trends To Watch For In 2013
Calling all loyal blog readers – the EEOC-Initiated litigation webinar is just a few days away – on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. We still have spaces available for the webinar – click here to register and attend.
Our readers have given us wide-ranging feedback since the launch of our annual EEOC litigation…