U.S. MARSHALS ESCORT BUSINESS OWNER WHO IGNORED EEOC SUBPOENA TO APPEARANCE BEFORE FEDERAL JUDGE

PRESS RELEASE
9-11-09

Court Had Issued Writ of Body Attachment for Principal of ShoreKare, LLC

CHICAGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said today that United States Marshals had escorted the owner and registered agent of ShoreKare, LLC, a local health care provider, to an appearance before District Judge Amy St. Eve yesterday. The judge had issued a “writ of body attachment” for the businessman for failing to comply with EEOC administrative subpoenas and then not obeying a court order relating to those subpoenas. He was in the custody of the United States Marshals Service on Sept. 10, 2009. At a hearing yesterday afternoon, Judge St. Eve gave him until Sept. 24, 2009, to comply with the subpoenas or be at risk of being placed in custody again.

According to EEOC Chicago District Director John Rowe, the EEOC issued two administrative subpoenas to ShoreKare after it failed to produce information and testimony the EEOC requested. Rowe said, “At this stage of the investigation, the EEOC is a neutral party with the sole purpose of obtaining information relating to a charge of discrimination. The information requested in the EEOC’s subpoenas is necessary for us to complete our investigation. ShoreKare elected not to comply with our requests as well as our subpoenas. So we went into court, as provided by federal law, to pursue the matter.”

According John Hendrickson, regional attorney for the EEOC in Chicago, “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expressly provides the EEOC with the authority to issue subpoenas during its administrative investigations and to obtain court enforcement when necessary. The federal courts almost always summarily enforce EEOC subpoenas and require prompt production of the material sought. Employers who choose to defy federal court orders do so, as this case demonstrates, at their peril.”

In addition, Judge St. Eve previously ordered ShoreKare, LLC, to reimburse the EEOC for its costs for bringing this action.

The subpoena enforcement action was assigned to Federal District Court Judge Amy St. Eve of the Northern District of Illinois, and is captioned EEOC v. ShoreKare, LLC, N.D. Ill. No. 09 C 2790. The subpoena enforcement effort is headed by EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Diane Smason and Trial Attorney Aaron DeCamp.

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. Further information about the Commission is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

The EEOC Chicago District Office is responsible for processing charges of discrimination, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

This page was last modified on September 11, 2009.