Opinion ID: 388189
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disclosure of Investigatory Files

Text: 14 At trial, the University counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief claiming that the Commission's disclosure regulations, 29 C.F.R. §§ 1601.22 & 1610.17(d) (1979), were void and unenforceable. The district court dismissed the counterclaim and we affirm that dismissal. 15 Section 709(e) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-8(e) (1976), prohibits any employee of the EEOC, under pain of criminal penalty, from disclosing any information obtained during an EEOC investigation to the public. The challenged regulations carve out an exception to this general prohibition by authorizing disclosure of investigative files on an employer to the charging parties, the respondents, their attorneys, and witnesses when disclosures deemed necessary for securing appropriate relief. 29 C.F.R. § 1601.22 (1979). 5 The Supreme Court in EEOC v. Associated Dry Goods, --- U.S. ----, 101 S.Ct. 817, 66 L.Ed.2d 762 (1981) recently sustained the validity of these precise regulations. In that case, the Court concluded that Congress did not include the charging parties within the public to whom disclosure of confidential information is illegal under the provisions of Title VII. Hence release of these files to charging parties does not fall within the disclosure prohibition of section 709(e). Id. at ----, 101 S.Ct. at 823-26. The Court did hold, however, that only the charging party is entitled to examine his file: files of similar complaints against the same employer are not to be released. As the Court stated: there is no reason why the charging party should know the content of any other employee's charge, and he must be considered a member of the public with respect to charges filed by other people. With respect to all files other than his own, he is a stranger. Id. at ----, 101 S.Ct. at 826. Applied to this case, Associated Dry Goods mandates disclosure only to Margaret Carroll, the charging party, and her attorney. 16 The judgment of the district court, both in enforcing the subpoena and granting disclosure of the EEOC's file solely to Margaret Carroll and her attorney, will be affirmed, 487 F.Supp. 1071.