## Facts

- Linda Johnson, a female employee at Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company’s Ashdown, Arkansas facility, filed an EEOC charge alleging sex discrimination in employment practices.
- After receiving a right-to-sue notice, Johnson filed a Title VII class action on behalf of female employees challenging discriminatory terms and conditions of employment.
- The EEOC moved to intervene in the action and sought to litigate claims not only for female employees but also for females who applied for jobs and were not hired.
- The district court allowed the EEOC to intervene but barred it from expanding the case to include claims on behalf of unsuccessful female applicants, treating EEOC intervention as limited to the scope of the private complaint.
- The EEOC appealed the limitation on its intervention.

## Issues

1. Whether the EEOC, intervening under Title VII in a private class action, may assert claims on behalf of persons and issues beyond those included in the private plaintiff’s complaint.
2. Whether applicant-based sex discrimination claims may be litigated through EEOC intervention when they reasonably relate to and grow out of the charge and the EEOC’s investigation.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s order restricting the EEOC’s intervention.
- The court held that the EEOC is not confined to the same claims and class definition pled by the private plaintiff.
- The court allowed the EEOC to pursue claims on behalf of unsuccessful female job applicants because those claims reasonably grew out of the charge and related investigation.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with permitting the EEOC to litigate the applicant claims within the action.

## Legal Principles

- Under Title VII, including 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1), the EEOC’s intervention in a private action reflects an independent enforcement role aimed at the public interest, not merely a derivative role aligned with the private party’s pleadings.
- In intervening, the EEOC may litigate claims that are like or reasonably related to the allegations underlying the charge and that grow out of a reasonable investigation and cause determination.
- Limiting EEOC intervention strictly to the private complaint can improperly fragment enforcement where related discriminatory practices affecting different groups (employees and applicants) arise from the same challenged conduct.
- Allowing the EEOC to include related claims through intervention supports efficient adjudication and Title VII’s remedial purpose of eliminating employment discrimination.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit held that, once permitted to intervene in a private Title VII class action, the EEOC may pursue additional, reasonably related discrimination claims—here, claims on behalf of unsuccessful female applicants—even if the private plaintiff’s complaint defined the class more narrowly.


Johnson v. Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co., 558 F.2d 841 (8th Cir. 1977)