EEOC energetically enforces Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

It’s rarely a good idea to ignore an agency request or summons, to thumb your nose at agency authority, or to simply tell them to go pound sand. There have been a variety of issues in agencies where failure to cooperate and/or provide a reasonable and clear-cut reason for that failure leads to increased enforcement actions, fines, and other problems. This is true for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) if there is a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) question, certainly true for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and—as illustrated last month—is now clearly true for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

First PWFA enforcement action

The EEOC recently released a press release indicating that it is filing its first subpoena enforcement action under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Unsurprisingly, this comes out of the agency’s Chicago office because Chicago is frequently a leader in enforcement and regulation matters.

The EEOC said it “filed a subpoena enforcement action against R&L Carrier Shared Services, LLC” because the company ignored the original administrative request. The agency is investigating a discrimination charge based on sex and pregnancy status. It said the subpoena requested, among other things, a list of employees with contact information, presumably to look for similarly situated employees or comparatives and to determine additional witnesses in any investigative claim.

EEOC’s intent is clear