Saturday, November 21, 2009

2nd Circuit Says EEOC Can Subpoena Company's Nationwide Records

In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. United Parcel Service, (2d Cir., Nov. 19, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court should enforce a subpoena issued by the EEOC seeking information on how religious exemptions from UPS's Uniform and Personal Appearance Guidelines are handled nationwide. The appeals court concluded that the district court had applied too restrictive a concept of relevance in refusing to enforce the subpoena in connection with the Commission's investigation of a case in Buffalo and one in Dallas involving Muslims who wanted for religious reasons to wear beards. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]