On September 19, 2014 a federal court ordered KB Staffing, Inc. to comply with a subpoena issued by the EEOC during its pending investigation. The subpoena, issued in December 2013, seeks information relating to a charge filed alleging that KB Staffing required current and prospective employees to submit to a health questionnaire prior to employment.
The charge alleges that the applicant was not hired because she refused to submit the pre-offer health questionnaire. Based on this complaint, the EEOC charged the company in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). KB Staffing argued that the subpoena was outside the scope of the charge. However, these arguments were rejected by the court.
"EEOC maintains the authority to investigate whether KB Staffing engaged
in systemic discrimination when it used a pre-offer health questionnaire
during its application process, despite the victim-specific relief it
could pursue on the Charging Party's behalf and despite KB Staffing's
assertion that it ceased use of the health questionnaire as of December
2012," the judge wrote (EEOC v. KB Staffing, LLC, No. 8:14-mc-41 (M.D.Fla. Aug. 28, 2014) (Report and Recommendation, A. Porcelli, M.J.).
Now that the EEOC has the go-ahead to proceed with its investigation in regard to the subpoena, it should be interesting what is found.
