Opinion ID: 1043390
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: facts

Text: Defendant-appellee Peoplemark is a temporary-employment agency with offices in Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida. Peoplemark uses an application form that asks applicants whether they have a felony record. Peoplemark also conducts an independent investigation into the criminal records of all applicants. In 2005, Sherri Scott, an African American with a felony conviction, submitted an application to Peoplemark’s Grand Rapids office. Peoplemark did not refer Scott for employment. Because of this refusal, Scott filed a charge of discrimination with the Commission. She alleged that Peoplemark denied her application because of her race and felony record. No. 11-2582 E.E.O.C. v. Peoplemark Page 3 The Commission launched an investigation in light of Scott’s allegations. As part of the investigation, the Commission communicated with Judd F. Osten, Peoplemark’s Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Osten informed the Commission that Peoplemark had a companywide policy of rejecting felon applicants. Osten indicated that Peoplemark’s policy was not the result of a request from its clients. However, he did state that Peoplemark’s clients knew of the policy and that some had told Peoplemark not to refer felons. As part of the investigation, the Commission also subpoenaed, and Peoplemark provided, more than 18,000 documents. According to Peoplemark, the documents proved that Peoplemark did not have a companywide policy of rejecting felon applicants because the documents showed that Peoplemark had referred felons to job opportunities. In September 2007, based upon the investigation, the Commission sent a letter to Peoplemark stating that the Commission had reason to believe that Peoplemark had violated Title VII. The Commission relied on the statements of Osten and its belief that Peoplemark had a blanket, companywide policy of rejecting felon applicants, a policy which the Commission argued had a disparate impact on African Americans. The parties’ attempts to conciliate failed, and on September 29, 2008, the Commission filed the current action on behalf of Scott and a class of similarly situated persons. The complaint alleged that [s]ince at least May 2005, Defendant Employer has engaged in unlawful employment practices at all of its facilities in violation of Section 703(a) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). The Defendant’s unlawful employment practices include maintaining a policy which prohibits the hiring of any person with a criminal record. Such policy has had and continues to have a disparate impact on African American applicants. R. 1, Compl. at 2, Page ID # 2.1 1 The complaint alleges that Peoplemark had a policy that prohibits hiring any person with a criminal record. The parties and the court below focused on whether Peoplemark had a policy that prohibits hiring any person with a felony record. We therefore review the case as decided by the district court and argued by the parties. No. 11-2582 E.E.O.C. v. Peoplemark Page 4 The district court held a scheduling conference in January 2009. The subsequent case management order required the Commission to disclose its experts by the end of June 2009, and to submit its expert reports by the end of August 2009. The Commission eventually identified 286 individual class members. The records provided by Peoplemark to the Commission indicated, however, that some of the class members did not have felony convictions and others who had felony convictions obtained employment through Peoplemark despite their criminal records. In April 2009, Peoplemark formally informed the Commission for that first time that Peoplemark denied having a companywide policy of rejecting felon applicants. The Commission asked for two extensions to the expert deadlines, one each in June and July 2009. Peoplemark opposed both motions. In response to the first request, the court extended both the date to name experts and the report deadline, though the court did not grant as long an extension as the Commission had requested. The court denied the second motion to extend. In July 2009, Peoplemark provided the Commission with a copy of its e- database. The database again indicated that Peoplemark did not have a companywide policy of rejecting all felon applicants. By the end of August 2009, Peoplemark had produced over 176,000 documents. In September, Peoplemark produced about two thousand previously unknown documents. In September 2009, the Commission yet again filed a motion to extend the time to file expert reports. The Commission claimed that its statistical expert would be unable to finalize her report by the deadline and requested that the court extend the deadline to February 2010. The court ordered additional argument about whether the Commission’s statistical expert’s testimony was even necessary to determine if Peoplemark employed a categorical, companywide policy of refusing to refer felons. No. 11-2582 E.E.O.C. v. Peoplemark Page 5 On October 23, 2009, the Commission filed a supplemental brief, which responded to the court’s request for additional argument on the issue of whether the Commission’s statistical expert’s report was even necessary. The brief disavowed the theory of the case that Peoplemark had a discriminatory categorical companywide policy. The Commission argued that the case hinged on the possibility that Peoplemark’s consideration of felony convictions when assessing applications had a disparate impact on African Americans. To determine if the case was viable, the Commission, through its expert, would need to analyze flow data and current work force data and conduct an adverse-impact analysis. This, the Commission contended, could establish that Peoplemark’s actual policy had a disparate impact on African Americans. The magistrate judge eventually granted in part and denied in part the Commission’s third motion for extension of time to file expert reports. The judge found that the Commission was dilatory in prosecuting the case. The magistrate judge extended the deadline for filing expert reports to December 31, 2009. The district judge affirmed. Peoplemark timely filed its expert report in February 2010. Though Peoplemark brought a motion for summary judgment on February 25, 2010, the parties agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case with prejudice on March 24, 2010. The dismissal provided that Peoplemark would be the prevailing party for purposes of determining who was entitled to fees under § 706(k) of Title VII, as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). The court granted the joint motion and dismissed the action on March 29, 2010. Peoplemark thereafter moved for attorney’s fees, expert fees, sanctions, and costs. No. 11-2582 E.E.O.C. v. Peoplemark Page 6