Bloomberg wins dismissal in well-publicized pregnancy discrimination case brought by EEOC
Client(s) Bloomberg, L.P.
Jones Day successfully defended Bloomberg, L.P. in a company-wide national and international discrimination and retaliation class action case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that alleged that Bloomberg engaged in a pattern or practice of pregnancy discrimination by, among other things, reducing the pay of pregnant women and women who took maternity leave. The allegations were false and proven to be so during the litigation, and Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that, in fact, the EEOC violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in multiple ways when it filed suit without complying with its procedural obligations. In 2010, the district court dismissed time-barred claims and the EEOC's class retaliation claims. In 2011, the district court dismissed EEOC's class pattern or practice discrimination claims. In September 2013, the district court dismissed EEOC's remaining claims after it determined that the EEOC did not comply with its presuit obligations. The district court also dismissed the claims of five plaintiff-intervenors and many claims of another individual. On April 28, 2014, the district court dismissed the one remaining individual's claim for post-resignation back pay.
The EEOC appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On June 5, 2015, the Second Circuit dismissed the case after the parties filed a stipulation that withdrew EEOC's appeal. On July 15, 2015, the district court directed the clerk's office to mark the case as closed.
The case is significant because it was the EEOC's first major pattern or practice class action for pregnancy discrimination. The case also involves important issues about statistical and social science experts, the procedures that limit the EEOC, and several other issues.
EEOC v. Bloomberg, L.P., No. 14-3737 (2d Cir.); EEOC v. Bloomberg, L.P., No. 07-CV-8383 (S.D.N.Y)
