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Supreme Court rips EEOC
November 07, 2007 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
It was a case that seemed dry as toast, inviting a fairly standard analysis of whether a court must defer to an administrative agency's interpretation of an undefined word in a statute. Federal Express v. Holowecki [click here for details and all briefs.]
A simple legal issue: Whether an EEOC intake form can serve as an EEOC charge.
Then it turned into a judicial pile-on, seeing which Justice could be the most critical of the way the EEOC does business.
I'll give the award to Justice Scalia. When the government's lawyer stood up to talk, the lawyer didn't get past his formal introduction before Justice Scalia jumped on him.
"JUSTICE SCALIA: Mr. Heytens, let me tell you going in that my -- my main concern in this case, however the decision comes out, is to do something that will require the EEOC to get its act in order, because this is nonsense: These regulations that are contradicted by forms; this failure to give notice, but it's okay because it's a charge anyway."This whole situation can be traceable back to the agency, and I -- whoever ends up bearing the burden of it, it's the agency's fault, and this scheme has to be revised."
Read the whole transcript here.
Although the Supreme Court has no power to make the EEOC change its ways, it certainly has the ability to throw light on an administrative mess. Perhaps that will lead to change. But only if the EEOC has the political will to change.
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Editor: Ross Runkel, Professor of Law Emeritus. email Ross@LawMemo.Com, Phone 503-399-8028. Copyright LawMemo, Inc.
