Alexander Statement on Unanimous Supreme Court Ruling that Puts Check on EEOC

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 29 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must take steps to reconcile discrimination complaints before suing employers:

“The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision put a check on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s runaway litigation strategy. The EEOC is required by law to attempt to work out discrimination complaints before it sues employers, but this commission repeatedly abused that law. Today’s decision is a victory for businesses and workers, and for the American people, who elect a Congress to reflect its will and write the laws. ”

Alexander, the chairman of the Senate labor committee, last year released a staff report that found litigation missteps at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The report found that EEOC “is pursuing many questionable cases through sometimes overly aggressive means—and, as a result, has suffered significant court losses that are embarrassing to the agency and costly to taxpayers. Courts have found EEOC’s litigation tactics to be so egregious they have ordered EEOC to pay defendants’ attorney’s fees in ten cases since 2011. The courts have criticized EEOC for misuse of its authority, poor expert analysis, and pursuit of novel cases unsupported by law.”

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For access to this release and Chairman Alexander’s other statements, click here.