EEOC Files Second Subpoena Enforcement Action Against Gallup-McKinley County Schools Following Refusal to Comply

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that it has filed a second action in federal court to enforce a third subpoena it issued during its investigation into claims that Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) engaged in discriminatory employment practices, including discriminatory interviewing, hiring, promoting, or classifying of Native American applicants and employees.

In August 2024, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas filed a Commissioner’s charge against GMCS, which is comprised of multiple schools in Gallup and other parts of McKinley County, New Mexico, alleging that GMCS engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against Native American job applicants and current employees, including failure to interview, hire, promote or classify Native Americans for positions as classroom teachers, administrators and principals. Such conduct may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As part of its investigation into the Commissioner’s charge, the EEOC requested that GMCS provide information about applicants and former and current employees over a period of roughly five years, including the name, race, ethnicity, date of hire, position, department and contact information for candidates and employees. This data would shed light on the allegations of the charge and allow the EEOC to analyze GMCS’s interviewing, hiring, promoting and classifying practices as they relate to Native Americans.

Two days before the information was due, GMCS refused to produce it. The EEOC promptly issued a subpoena for the production of the data, but GMCS failed to comply. GMCS also failed to follow the administrative appeal process available for review of an EEOC subpoena.

“This is a serious charge alleging discriminatory employment practices by GMCS against Native Americans. When employers fail to comply with the EEOC’s investigations, we will not hesitate to issue subpoenas and pursue enforcement in federal court,” said Lucas. “Courts have routinely affirmed EEOC’s broad authority to obtain subpoena compliance from employers when the agency seeks information to investigate discrimination and enforce Title VII’s protections for workers. Any effort by an employer to obstruct our efforts to root out unlawful discriminatory practices undermines the EEOC’s ability carry out our statutory charge of civil rights enforcement on behalf of American workers. In such cases, we will not hesitate to use the full extent of our authority – including seeking court intervention – to secure full cooperation.”

The EEOC filed the enforcement action (EEOC v. Gallup-McKinley County Schools, Case No. 1:26-mc-00019-KWR) in U.S. District Court for the New Mexico, after first attempting to obtain voluntary compliance with its investigative requests.

The EEOC’s Phoenix District Office has jurisdiction over complaints in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and part of New Mexico.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.