J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. v. Perry
| Decision Date | 16 June 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-2154,81-2154 |
| Citation | 710 F.2d 136 |
| Parties | 32 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 40, 32 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,689 J.P. STEVENS & CO., INC., Appellee, v. Lowell W. PERRY, Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, G. Duke Beasley, Acting Regional Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Alfonso McGhee, Acting 707 Team Captain, Defendants, and The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Marcia B. Ruskin, Washington, D.C. (Michael J. Connolly, Gen. Counsel, Philip B. Sklover, Associate Gen. Counsel, Vella M. Fink, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Carol Cresswell Moschandreas, Washington, D.C., on brief), for appellant.
Gary S. Klein, Greenville, S.C. (Robert T. Thompson, Thompson, Mann & Hutson, Greenville, S.C., on brief), for appellee.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Senior Circuit Judge, SPROUSE and CHAPMAN, Circuit Judges.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) appeals from the order of the District Court of South Carolina compelling it to disclose certain information from its investigation of J.P. Stevens & Company's employment practices. The court ordered this information disclosed after an in camera inspection of the records pursuant to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority v. Perry, 571 F.2d 195 (4th Cir.1978). We affirm in part and reverse in part.
On November 7, 1974 the EEOC filed a charge against J.P. Stevens & Company (Stevens) alleging that it was engaging in a pattern and practice of employment discrimination based upon race, color and sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. CRA.
By letter of March 13, 1975, Stevens made a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the EEOC for the following documents:
1. Any and all charges filed with the Commission, against this Company, by any member of the Commission or by any other person whomsoever.
2. Any and all writings in the possession or under the control of the Commission, which in any manner set forth or relate to:
(a) Reasons, grounds or justifications for any charge referred to in "1" above.
(b) Any communications to or from any person with respect to any charge referred to in "1" above.
(c) Any affidavit or statement bearing upon any charge referred to in "1" above.
(d) Any ruling, decision or commentary with respect to the processing of any charge referred to in "1" above.
(e) Any ruling, decision or commentary with respect to the validity or invalidity of any charge referred to in "1" above.
(f) Any information or facts or assertions as to employment practices, or alleged employment practices, of this Company.
(g) Any recommendations or solicitations by any person that charges or legal proceedings be brought against this Company.
The Acting General Counsel of the EEOC responded to the request by letter of March 31, 1975. Counsel stated that the charges would be made available to the Company and that any information covered by 2(a) and 2(f) of the request would be contained in the charges. In regard to requests 2(d) and 2(e), Counsel stated that no "determinations, rulings or decisions" have been made, so there was no such information to disclose. General Counsel, however, denied the request for the information in categories 2(b), 2(c) and 2(g) on the ground that the information requested was exempt from disclosure pursuant to the FOIA exemptions (b)(3) and (b)(7). 5 U.S.C. Secs. 552(b)(3), (b)(7). On June 3, 1975, the EEOC upheld the General Counsel's refusal to disclose the documents.
On March 29, 1976, Stevens filed the FOIA complaint that is the subject of this appeal. The complaint sought access to the documents the EEOC had previously refused to disclose. The Commission voluntarily responded to Stevens' motion under Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C.Cir.1973) by submitting an itemized index of categories of the documents it claimed were exempt from disclosure. The categories included affidavits by the charging parties, fellow employees or other witnesses and, inter alia, the following classes of documents:
Correspondence between other governmental agencies and the Commission concerning the status of litigation involving the Commissioner's charge filed.
Correspondence between private attorneys and the Commission pertaining to the filing of charges against the company.
Correspondence between the Commission and state or city referral agencies concerning the filing of charges or referral of cases for Commission processing.
Correspondence between private organizations and the Commission concerning referral of persons with potential cases for EEOC processing.
Correspondence between labor organizations and the Commission concerning the processing of charges.
Stevens filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on its FOIA claim on October 29, 1976.
On May 24, 1978, the district court held that the documents were not exempt from disclosure under (b)(3) of the FOIA. Citing Perry, the court further stated that it could make a determination as concerns the (b)(7) exemption only after an in camera inspection of the documents in question.
By order of June 9, 1981, the court reaffirmed its holding that the (b)(3) exemption did not apply. As to the (b)(7) exemption, the court held that the affidavits and statements of witnesses were exempt from disclosure. Because the EEOC had not met its burden of showing that disclosure of the other documents would interfere with any enforcement proceedings, the district court ordered the EEOC to "make available to Stevens all documents previously withheld with the exception of witness statements and affidavits."
The EEOC appeals from the district court's order on the grounds that both exemptions apply to the requested documents. The first exemption, (b)(3), exempts from disclosure matters that are:
(3) specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 552b of this title), provided that such statute (A) requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or (B) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld....
Title VII requires the EEOC to withhold from "the public" the charges, anything said or done during informal endeavors to reach conciliation, or any information gathered by the Commission during its investigation until a formal proceeding has been instituted. 1 Because it cannot release the information in question to "the public" under Title VII, it argues that it has "no discretion on the issue" and exemption (b)(3) prohibits it from releasing the same information to Stevens, a party to the charge. The weight of authority, however, militates against this construction of the two statutory schemes. The Fourth Circuit in fact has rejected just such an argument in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority v. Perry, 571 F.2d 195 (4th Cir.1978).
Essentially, the EEOC's argument is that "public" means the same thing in both statutes; therefore, despite the fact it has the discretion to release some information to the parties, the parties are the "public" and have no right to disclosure under the FOIA, regardless of any special status under Title VII. The Commission maintains that if parties did have such a right it would cripple its enforcement proceedings and it would "lose all control over conciliation negotiations since every party could learn all the weaknesses of the other party's position." The agency's practices and the legislative scheme that charges it with seeking conciliation between the parties, however, belie this argument.
As Perry has held, the fact that the EEOC claims the discretion to disclose some information to the parties is an argument for requiring disclosure. 571 F.2d at 199. Exemptions to disclosure under the FOIA are to be "narrowly construed" in favor of disclosure. Department of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352 at 360-361, 96 S.Ct. 1592 at 1598-1599, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976). In Perry, this court distinguished between "public" as used in Title VII and the FOIA, holding that because Title VII did not prohibit disclosure to the parties, the (b)(3) exemption does not apply. This is because the narrow construction of the exemption requires the prohibition in Title VII to prohibit disclosure "not simply to the public generally but also to the specific party demanding disclosure." Perry, 571 F.2d at 200. Therefore, while the FOIA will prevent the EEOC from disclosing this information to the public at large, it will not prohibit disclosure to the parties involved.
Title VII does not define the word "public". In EEOC v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., 449 U.S. 590, 101 S.Ct. 817, 66 L.Ed.2d 762 (1981), the Supreme Court held that the word "public" in Title VII "cannot logically include the parties to the agency proceeding." 449 U.S. at 598, 101 S.Ct. at 822. The Court considered the plain language of the statute, the legislative history and the purpose of Title VII and decided that "common sense and the express language" of Title VII dictate this conclusion. 449 U.S. at 598-601, 101 S.Ct. at 822-823.
First, the plain language of the statute shows that the Commission is to make available to the employer the charge in any case to which it is a party. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(b). 2 Both Perry and Associated Dry Goods relied upon this reading of Title VII when holding that the parties are not the "public" to whom disclosure is prohibited.
Second, the legislative history of the statute indicates that the purpose of the disclosure provisions is to limit the unauthorized dissemination of unproven charges to the general public, not to limit disclosures that are necessary to carry out the statutory scheme. Associated Dry Goods, 449 U.S. at 599, 101 S.Ct. at 822. (citing 110 Cong.Rec. 12723 (1964)) 3
Third, the Court recognized that the EEOC's statutory duty to resolve the charges through...
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