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68 U. Kan. L. Rev. 167 (2019-2020)
When Will It End? Whether the Right-to-Sue Letter Effectively Limits the EEOC's Investigative Authority

handle is hein.journals/ukalr68 and id is 167 raw text is: When Will It End? Whether the Right-to-Sue Letter Effectively Limits the EEOC's Investigative Authority Emily K. Leiker* I. INTRODUCTION In EEOC v. Waffle House, the Supreme Court pronounced the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the master of its own case.' The EEOC has come a long way since its early days, when many considered the administrative agency a toothless tiger.2 In the beginning, the EEOC was a strange hybrid creature.3 Because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the EEOC very little statutory authority, it was relatively ineffective, and it lacked the power to enforce Title VII of the Act.4 The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, however, amended Title VII to give the EEOC the authority to enforce discrimination claims.s Since the passage of this amendment, the EEOC has exercised its newly-granted authority, which in turn has spurred litigation about the scope of the EEOC's investigative authority.6 As a result, courts have been tasked with determining just how much enforcement authority Title VII gives the EEOC. In particular, courts have * J.D. Candidate, 2020, University of Kansas School of Law; B.S., 2017, Fort Hays State University. I would like to thank Professor Lumen Mulligan and the Kansas Law Review editorial staff for all their insight and suggestions throughout the editing process of this Comment. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their love, support, and unfailing confidence in me. 1. 534 U.S. 279, 291 (2002) (holding that the EEOC is not subject to an arbitration agreement between an employer and employee, and that it can still bring suit in its own name to seek victim- specific relief). 2. Michael Z. Green, Proposing A New Paradigm for EEOC Enforcement After 35 Years. Outsourcing Charge Processing by Mandatory Mediation, 105 DICK. L. REV. 305, 352 (2001). 3. HUGH DAVIS GRAHAM, THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA: ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL POLICY 1960-1972 157 (1990). 4. See Green, supra note 2, at 320-21 (detailing the legislative history that contributed to the EEOC's lack of enforcement power under Title VII). 5. Congress granted the EEOC greater enforcement authority by allowing it to commence civil actions in the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-261, § 706(f)(1), 86 Stat. 103, 105 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) (2012)). 6. See, e.g., EEOC v. Hearst Corp., 103 F.3d 462, 463 (5th Cir. 1997); EEOC v. Union Pac. R.R., 867 F.3d 843, 845 (7th Cir. 2017). 167

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