Federal Court Sharply Limits Employer's Attempt To Probe Job Bias Victims' Medial, Arrest and Litigation Histories

U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney of the Federal District Court in Rockford, Ill., issued an order this week largely denying an employer’s motion to compel discovery regarding medical and psychological records, arrest records and litigation history of claimants in a discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In its lawsuit (EEOC v. Area Erectors, Inc., N.D. Ill. No. 07 C 2339), the EEOC alleges that Area Erectors, Inc. discriminated against a class of African American employees by firing them and retaliated against a black employee who had sued another employer for race discrimination.

Area Erectors had sought discovery of the claimants’ medical and psychological records for the past five years. According to the court’s opinion, the company “insist[ed] that claimants’ past five years of medical and psychological records are discoverable because Plaintiff has made a claim for compensatory damages rooted in the emotional distress of the claimants.” Magistrate Mahoney rejected Area Erectors’ sweeping view (Memorandum Opinion and Order, N.D. Illinois, Western Div. No. 07 C 023339, M.J. Mahoney, entered 11/27/2007).

Instead, the court held that the claimants did not open the door to Area Erectors’ discovering their medical and psychological records simply by claiming emotional-distress damages as a result of the racial discrimination they experienced. Rather, the court held that the claimants’ medical and psychological records only had to be produced for those claimants for whom the EEOC will present evidence that they experienced medical or psychological symptoms or conditions or sought medical or psychological treatment because of discrimination at Area Erectors. The EEOC does not have to produce medical and psychological records for claimants who experienced “garden-variety” emotional distress because of the discrimination, such as feeling angry, frustrated, or humiliated. Read more at eeoc.gov