Federal Court Rules That An EEOC Lawsuit Is Not Barred By Bankruptcy Code's Automatic Stay

Seyfarth Synopsis: The government's anti-discrimination watchdog can be extremely aggressive in pursuing discrimination claims, including pursuing those claims after an employer files for bankruptcy. Normally, after a bankruptcy petition is filed, the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay enjoins other actions against the debtor. But in EEOC v. Tim Shepard M.D., PA d/b/a Shepherd Healthcare, 17-CV-02569 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 11, 2018), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sided with the EEOC and concluded that the EEOC's Title VII lawsuit fell within an exception to the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay. This case is a good reminder that the Bankruptcy Code's protections do not necessarily stave off an EEOC action. Importantly, the EEOC often will not back down from a fight simply because its target filed a bankruptcy petition, and depending on the nature of the EEOC action, it may fall within an exception to the automatic stay.

The Decision

In EEOC v. Tim Shepard M.D., PA d/b/a Shepherd Healthcare, 17-CV-02569 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 11, 2018), the EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas for alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After a year of litigation, the defendant filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. As a result of the bankruptcy proceeding, the court entered an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 and administratively closed the EEOC's action.

The Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay provides fundamental protection to a debtor in a bankruptcy by automatically enjoining certain actions against the debtor. The purpose of the automatic stay is to preserve the bankruptcy estate so that it can be orderly distributed to creditors.

Although the court stayed and administratively closed the EEOC's enforcement action, the EEOC filed a motion to reopen the case, arguing that its discrimination lawsuit fell within the governmental unit or police and regulatory exception to the automatic stay found in 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(4). Section 362(b)(4) provides that the filing of a bankruptcy petition "does not operate as a stay" of:

the commencement or continuation of an action or proceeding by a governmental unit . . . to enforce such governmental unit's . . . police and regulatory power, including the enforcement of a judgment other than a money judgment, obtained in an action or proceeding by the...

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