Score for employers: EEOC pays attorney’s fees for frivolous lawsuit
July 14, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Uncategorized
Finally, some justice: The EEOC was recently ordered to cut a hefty check to cover an employer’s legal fees after the agency mishandled an employee’s frivolous lawsuit.
Henry Velez suffered from a rare medical condition that made him unable to sweat. Despite that problem, he worked in manual labor for most of his life — he was simply required to take period breaks to cool down.
While working for Agro Distribution, he spent about two years without any problems — his manager allowed to take breaks as needed.
Then every employee in Velez’s position was assigned a new duty — the unpleasant task of unloading dirty, empty barrels that had been used to feed cattle. Velez told his boss his condition prevented him from helping.
The manager wouldn’t hear of it — after all, he’d been performing similar work for two years. What was different now?
Velez filed a complaint with the EEOC, alleging the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agency thought he had a case.
However, the EEOC handled the matter in a way that was less than objective, according to the company. When an investigator came to the facility, she insulted managers, scoffed at their answers to questions and attempted to rephrase their statements to favor Velez.
Afterward, the company claimed it tried to contact the EEOC to offer a settlement, but the agency never responded.
Eventually, the issue ended up in court. The judge agreed with the company that Velez wasn’t protected by the ADA. And, the court ruled, the EEOC “failed to conciliate in good faith.”
The final decision: The case was tossed, and the EEOC was forced to pay Agro’s legal fees.
Cite: EEOC v. Agro Distribution LLC
Tags: attorney's fees, frivolous lawsuit
July 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I am amazed that the the state and the EEOC fail to exercise any judgment when deciding to take a case and investigate. It takes a person 5 minutes to file a claim and a company several weeks to respond. Recently I have seen claims that don’t provide any facts and simply state “I was discrimnated against.” They don’t mention the reason they were terminated and do not deny any wrongdoing. Yet the state and the EEOC cast a net looking for any errors on the employer side. They have the company develop a report of all hires and discharges by protected class for the previous two years, and the company must send all the files for workers in similar positions with the company. They have the company develop a database for disciplinary record for all employees for the previous two years, and submit a position statement concerning the complaint which doesn’t give enough information to respond to. I am the only person in my department, so responding to each complaint is in addition to my day to day duties. As an exempt worker, I then have to schedule at least forty hours for the next two weeks on top of my regular hours which I will not be paid for.
I think complaints should be investigated, but I would think there would be someone at the state or EEOC who would get some facts from the complainant to see if a valid claim exists. I guess they have too much time on their hands and maybe they should look at making some cuts to reduce the deficit.
I have noticed that those who have left employment with us tend to know each other away from work. The rule on the street is if you quit or get fired, first file for unemployment, and then file a discrimination complaint with the idea that it could result in more money.
July 17th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I wish the EEOC had had to pay up when they put through a couple of doozies. In the first case, we termed a social worker who claimed ADD. We accommodated her to the nth degree but she crossed the line on several occasions regarding performance and insubordination, we placed her on a PIP and she still failed. Her claim through the EEOC was that she was terminated because she was “younger, smarter, and prettier” than her boss (no, you cannot make this up!!) and they allowed it to be filed and we had to respond! Cost us $8k just to get it tossed!!! And, for the record, youth is not a protected issue, “smarter” – hmm – she had an MS and her boss was working on a PhD but not sure that qualifies as something to move forward on. And “prettier”??? Wow. Totally frivalous
Another good one was a child care worker who was told repeatedly that they were never to be alone with a kid nor were they permitted to “preach” to them. He was warned and placed on a PIP but persisted so we had to terminate him. Iron tight documentation. He filed with the EEOC claiming termation due to his being a Christian. He failed to do his homework. His immediate supervisor was a former nun, the program director was an ordained minister, and the state director had formerly been headed to the priesthood. That one cost $3k to be tossed.
There are other examples but those two are the best. It’s frustrating that we have to waste so much time and money on this stuff and there is no recourse.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Thanks Linda. Now I don’t feel alone.
Yup. The Christian one rings a bell. We work for a Christian Human Service Organization and the CEO and VP are ministers. But I’ve seen that claim more than once.
I wouldn’t mind so much if when they took the complaints they actually talked to the claimants and made sure that there is a good faith basis for an investigation before they proceed. I’m sure there are instances that really need to be investigated, but they probably take forever because of all the time wasted for claims that should have never gone forward.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
We had an employee state that his supervisor used the N word against him. There was no witnnesses and the supervisor stated he never said anything to this employee. But the EEOC wanted us to pay the employee $500,000. Which cost us $50,000.
It’s time for a major change at the EEOC.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Our company (a PEO or employee leasing company) and our client (a restaurant) were sued by the EEOC when the client fired 2 of its employees. The employees notified us they thought they were discriminated against on the basis of their race, so our company investigated by interviewing the client’s employees with knowledge of the reasons for termination. Everything checked out; they all told similar stories about what happened leading to the termination. When it came time for depositions, the owner of the company was deposed. To our surprise, he testified under oath that he had told his employees to lie to our investigator and to tell the story he gave them (which is what they did) and that he intentionally hid the reasons for the termination from us. The supposed reasons turned out to be fabrications and it was incriminating to the client (and him). This was clear proof to the EEOC that we had done nothing wrong and were not involved in any wrongdoing. The EEOC refused to dismiss us from the lawsuit until the client agreed to settle for a huge amount of money. It cost us nearly $50K and there was never any basis for dragging us into the suit to begin with.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
TO: HARRY MANN: & RAMONA SAYS
EEOC IS AN EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCY. EEOC ENFORCES ITS STATUTES. What is going? When EEOC makes apparent untrue statements, fabriciates evidence or does not INTERVIEW one or more witnesses that is as violation of Federal criminal law title 18 USC sec. 1001. Federal criminal law is the purview of the United States Attorney, not District of Curcuit Court. The U.S. Attorney appears to be politically sympathetic with EEOC who roughshod civil rights. Elected officials such as Hon. Joe Wilson and Eric Holder have been silent to expose the abuses by EEOC. What can be done, REPLY to this comment for more info. Richard