Christopher DeGroff Published in Employment Law360
"Show Me The Victims"

Christopher DeGroff's article, "Show Me The Victims," was published in Employment Law360 on April 14, 2010. In his article, Chris discusses the litigation challenges faced by employers targeted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to Chris, the EEOC is not required to play by all the same rules as other litigants. One significant difference he points out is that the EEOC regularly refuses to identify the individuals it purports to represent. As Chris states in his article, "In private multi-plaintiff cases, the parties are typically known; they are either identified by name or limited to a carefully circumscribed group of class members that can be described early in the case. Not so with EEOC-initiated litigation."

Chris notes that "early identification of represented parties is tied to the EEOC's pre-suit conciliation obligations." He explains, "Before the EEOC can file either a Section 706 or 707 case, it must make good faith efforts to investigate and informally resolve those claims. This means that the claimants involved in the prospective EEOC action must have been covered by their pre-suit conciliation negotiations…."  He further explains that "employers can argue that they cannot evaluate whether the EEOC has met this condition precedent to litigation until the EEOC discloses the parties it now represents." Chris concludes, "The EEOC merely identifying an expansive pattern-or-practice 'class' or all employees 'similarly-situated' to an identified individual will not provide this answer."