The EEOC Suffers A Set-Back Due To Its Rush To Litigation

Under Title VII, the EEOC has an obligation before filing suit to engage in conciliation in good faith with an employer that is the subject of the Commission’s investigation and good cause determination. This conciliation requirement is not a perfunctory task, or a mere box that needs to be checked before the EEOC can file a complaint in court. Good-faith conciliation is intended to provide adequate notice to an employer of the nature of the charges against it, and an opportunity to resolve the matter before litigation ensues. Against this backdrop, and as this blog has noted before here and here, federal courts are taking a closer look at the EEOC’s litigation tactics. In a new decision by Judge Leslie Kobayashi of the U.S. District Court of Hawaii granting the employer’s motion to dismiss in EEOC v. ALTRES, Inc., et al., Case No. 11-CV-799 (D. Haw. Aug. 22, 2012), these two issues were joined in an opinion that will likely reverberate in EEOC matters throughout the country.

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