Opinion ID: 2709064
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Applicable Seventh Circuit Case Law

Text: We turn next to our own decisions that provide some guidance on this question of an implied defense. We have not had occasion before this case to examine this particular question about an implied defense for failure to conciliate. But our rejection of the defense is consistent with our earlier cases rejecting similar attempts by employers to change the focus from their employment practices to the agency’s pre-suit processes. 20 No. 13-2456 For example, in EEOC v. Elgin Teachers Association, 27 F.3d 292 (7th Cir. 1994), the EEOC sued a local teachers union for damages related to a collective bargaining agreement that the agency believed was discriminatory. Rejecting the union’s claim that the EEOC “lacked the right” to sue, we noted that although “the EEOC must pursue conciliation, it failed to get all of what it wanted in bargaining.” Id. at 294 (internal citations omitted). While we doubted whether the teachers union was the best target for suit, we made clear that the decision to go to court was “a matter for the conscience of the person who authorized the suit, rather than for the judiciary.” Id. The same reasoning applies to judicial review of conciliation efforts. More recently, in Doe v. Oberweis Dairy, 456 F.3d 704 (7th Cir. 2006), we held that the defendant employer was not entitled to summary judgment on the ground that the complainant, a former employee, had failed to cooperate with the EEOC before suit was filed. Although the EEOC requires complainants to cooperate with its investigations, we refused to read into Title VII a rule that good-faith cooperation was a prerequisite to individual suit or that failure to cooperate would be an affirmative defense. Nothing in the statutory text expressed any such requirement, and imposing it would needlessly complicate Title VII cases: “To allow employers to inject such an issue by way of defense in every Title VII case would cast a pall over litigation under that statute.” Id. at 711. The same reasoning applies to a failure-to-conciliate defense. EEOC v. Caterpillar, Inc., 409 F.3d 831 (7th Cir. 2005), is even more closely on point. In Caterpillar, the defendant employer had moved for partial summary judgment on the theory that No. 13-2456 21 the EEOC’s complaint went beyond the scope of the investigation required by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b). We affirmed denial of summary judgment. Distinguishing cases with contrary dicta, we held that the “existence of probable cause to sue is generally and in this instance not judicially reviewable.” 409 F.3d at 833. Nothing in the language of Title VII or our past case law invites courts to review the agency’s finding of probable or reasonable cause, and the same is true of its approach to conciliation. Mach Mining offers two grounds for distinguishing Caterpillar. It first argues that any error as to whether probable cause exists will be corrected at trial while, absent court review, insufficient conciliation will remain forever unremedied. We are not persuaded. A trial will check defects in the conciliation process to the same extent it will a lack of probable cause. All an employer loses from deficient conciliation effort is the chance to comply with the discrimination laws without need for a trial, and we must keep in mind that the EEOC has complete discretion to decide whether to settle. If the EEOC’s demands are so high that they offer no real chance at bargaining, a trial on the merits should bring them back to earth. If the employer feels it lacked the time or information necessary to settle before suit is filed, litigation will provide both. The employer can still settle, and district courts have many tools available to encourage reasonable settlements. We see no reason the EEOC would be likely to prefer spending its limited litigation budget rather than accept success in the form of a reasonable settlement. Moreover, the parties can settle quickly and without court approval because EEOC suits are not considered representative actions subject to 22 No. 13-2456 the requirements of Rule 23. See EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279, 288 (2002); cf. Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(e). It is true that the employer may have to bear the burden of trial, but that is equally true in the probable cause context. Mach Mining asserts also that the existence of probable cause is particularly the subject of agency expertise in a way that a failure to conciliate is not. This claim, offered without further support or explanation, is no more persuasive. Perhaps the closest our cases come to supporting a failureto-conciliate defense is EEOC v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc., 622 F.2d 271, 277 (7th Cir. 1980), where our discussion of a laches defense shows that some evidence from the conciliation process was offered and considered. We rejected the employer’s attempt to require the EEOC to raise back-pay claims in conciliation as a condition of seeking back-pay in the lawsuit. Nevertheless, our discussion seems to have assumed some degree of judicial review might be available, and the evidence from the conciliation process was deemed relevant to a defense of laches. The parties did not make an issue of the conciliation process in Massey-Ferguson, however. Nor did they raise the issue of confidentiality or confront the issues of statutory text we address here. The opinion therefore adds little to Mach Mining’s case here, while Caterpillar, Oberweis Dairy, and Elgin Teachers Association show our consistent skepticism toward employers’ efforts to change the focus from their own conduct to the agency’s pre-suit actions.