Christopher DeGroff Published in Securities Litigation Report
“Class Action Watch: Case Law Developments in EEOC-Initiated Litigation & Trends to Watch for in 2012”

An article by Complex Discrimination Litigation practice group co-chairs Gerald Maatman and Christopher DeGroff was published in the March 2012 issue of Securities Litigation Report. The article outlines the major trends in litigation initiated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2011 and makes predictions for the commission’s tactics in 2012.

The primary patterns Jerry and Chris observe for the EEOC in 2011 include aggressive systemic investigations and subpoena enforcement; federal courts’ decreasing tolerance of EEOC pleadings and tactics; and conflicting results in discovery, summary judgment and remedies decisions. For 2012, the authors predict that the EEOC will conduct even more aggressive systemic investigations; join forces with other parties, such as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs; partner with private plaintiffs’ class action counsel; expand pattern or practice presence in geographic areas that usually don’t see as many of these types of cases; and strive for a larger footprint in high-profile areas.

Jerry and Chris note that the Obama administration cut the EEOC’s budget in 2011, a move which they surmise “will likely result in even more large-scale, high profile cases,” as “chasing small-scale cases just simply will not (at least in the EEOC’s view) convey the government’s message in a cost-effective way. The EEOC understands that headlines touting multi-million settlements and judgments capture employers’ attention and, perhaps just as importantly, turn the head of legislators who hold the budgetary purse-strings. Thus, the EEOC’s need to remain politically relevant makes big case filing not only probable, but also critical for the Commission.”