EEOC v. Mach Mining LLC

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Employment Discrimination
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 13-2456
Decision Date: 
December 20, 2013
Federal District: 
S.D. Ill.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded
Dist. Ct. erred in denying EEOC’s motion for summary judgment that challenged defendant-employer’s affirmative defense, where defendant sought dismissal of underlying discrimination claim on ground that EEOC failed to satisfy mandate under 42 USC section 2000e-5(b) to make good faith effort to settle underlying claim prior to filing lawsuit in court. Any alleged failure to conciliate underlying discrimination claim is not affirmative defense to merits of underlying claim since: (1) conciliation, as set forth in section 2000e-5(b), is informal process entrusted solely to EEOC’s expert judgment; and (2) any meaningful review regarding whether EEOC negotiated in good faith would require prohibited inquiry into substantive reasonableness of particular settlement offers.