Stephanie D. Garner
Assistant Legal Counsel
EEOC
Office of Legal Counsel
1801 L Street, NW, 6th floor
Washington, DC 20507
(202) 663-4640
A paper copy of the report may be requested by submitting a written request to:
Stephanie D. Garner
Assistant Legal Counsel
EEOC
Office of Legal Counsel
1801 L Street, NW, 6th floor
Washington, DC 20507
(202) 663-4640
FOIA requests should be made in accordance with the Commission's regulations at 29 C.F.R. 1610.7.
See 29 C.F.R. 1610.4 and the agency's FOIA web page at http://www.eeoc.gov/foia for the EEOC FOIA contacts.
The average response time ranges were 10-20 working days.
Many FY 2001 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests received by the Commission were for materials contained in the Commission's investigative case files that involved charges of discrimination filed pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S. C. 2000e, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. 621-633, the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. 206(d), and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101-213. Sections 706 (b) and 709 (e) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(b) and 8 (e), and section 107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12117 prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public. In certain instances, parties to the charge are entitled to access to the disclosable portions of the charge file.(2)
The definitions set forth in the Department of Justice guidance were followed.
The exemption 3 statutes relied on were sections 706 (b) and 709 (e) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5 (b) and 8 (e) and section 107 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12117. These sections prohibit Commission employees from making Title VII or ADA charges, conciliation materials, required reports and case file information public.
The Commission's use of the third exemption has been upheld by the courts. The landmark case supporting the Commission's position is EEOC v. Associated Dry Goods Corp., 449 U.S. 590 (1981).
Epstein, Becker & Greene v. EEOC, C.A. 00CZ06153 (D.D.C. 2000), This FOIA lawsuit seeks the release of all subpoena determinations issued by the Commission for the last 5 years. The request was denied under exemption 3. EEOC filed a motion for summary judgment on the basis that all of the information requested was protected by the third exemption and no redactions were possible. Our motion for Summary Judgment was granted on August 16, 2001.
See Attachment A
Footnotes
1. This report is submitted to the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552 (e)(1). The format utilized in this report adheres to the format recommended by the Department of Justice.
2. An example of non-disclosable material in a charge file would be the internal intra-agency deliberative documents. These documents are generally withheld under the fifth exemption to the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. section 552 (b)(5).
3. This category only includes those situations where some records have been released and an exemption has been asserted to others; it does not include situations where some documents were released but others could not be found - that would be a total grant.
4. Denials are based on the exemptions listed in V.B.4 or the "other reasons for nondisclosure" listed in para. V.B.5.
5. This category only includes those situations where some records have been released and an exemption asserted as to others; it does not include situations where some documents were released but others could not be found - that would be a total grant.
6. Denials are based on the exemptions listed in VI.B.4. or the "other reasons for nondisclosure" listed in VI.B.5.
7. The median number is the middle, not the average, number. For example, the median number of 3, 7, 20, 21 and 24 is 20, while the average is 15.
8. See footnote 7.
9. For example, if each of 4 employees devotes 50% of his or her time to FOIA, 4 people and 2 total work years would be reported.
10. Personnel costs were estimated by multiplying the percentage used for computing IX.A.3. by the average annual salary rates for those persons.
This page was last modified on February 4, 2002.