EEOC asks appeals court to rehear CRST case

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a federal appeals court Monday to reconsider its ruling involving CRST Expedited of Cedar Rapids that it said could impede its enforcement of civil rights laws in the workplace.

The agency asked the full panel of 11 judges in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to review a decision of a three-member 8th Circuit panel in February.

The EEOC is the federal agency that investigates and prosecutes violations of the nation's civil rights laws in the workplace. The ruling in February upheld a U.S. district court's dismissal of almost all of the EEOC's complaint against the Cedar Rapids-based trucking company in a 2007 case involving over 100 female CRST driver trainees, primarily by male drivers assigned to train them while on the road.

The case involved graphic complaints of women being told to provide sex in exchange for recommendations that they be hired as permanent drivers, being sexually propositioned, and even being raped.

In asking for the review, the EEOC said the three-judge panel imposed a "unprecedented" requirement that the EEOC identify every potential victim before filing suit against CRST, saying the requirement was not supported by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"The panel's unprecedented imposition of this new requirement will impede EEOC's ability to enforce Title VII and other civil rights laws in workplaces with the most widespread discrimination," the EEOC's motion said.

The EEOC also argued that the appeals court panel's decision regarding whether CRST is liable for trainer harassment of female trainees during over-the-road training conflicts with the United States Supreme Court's decisions in a Florida case regarding supervisor liability. The error, the EEOC claimed, , affected its ability to seek relief for dozens of female trainees.

The motion made references to one appellate judge's dissent in the February ruling, which said trainees were often confined in a truck for 28 consecutive days with their trainer, who controlled trainees' daily activities ranging from when they could drive, to when they could use the bathroom, to when they could use the truck's satellite radio.

CRST Expedited is a division of CRST International, based in Cedar Rapids. It uses the two-driver teams in order to transport goods faster than one driver alone could over long distances. It is not permitted by federal law to restrict access to employment on the two-driver teams to only men or women.

CRST International President Dave Rusch noted that the EEOC has not appealed a ruling by Chief Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa that CRST Expedited did not have a "pattern of practice" of not following through on complaints of sexual harassment. He said that was the chief point of evidence and testimony in the district court trial.

"At the end of the day, it's been through two court systems and we're pleased with the finding of both courts," Rusch said. "When the EEOC has finished exploring their options, I think we'll be vindicated."

The appellate court had kept two of the claims against CRST alive in it February ruling, referring them back to district court for reconsideration.

CRST officials said they believed that the case could now go in several different directions. If the full appellate court agreed to review the decision, and agreed with the EEOC, they could send it back to district court for reconsideration.

The full appellate court could disagree with most or all of the EEOC's complaint also, leaving the EEOC with the option of appealing to the United States Supreme Court.