Sex bias complaint against Schwan's heads to court

Before she joined Schwan's, Kim Milliren saw the prospect of a management position at the frozen food retailer and manufacturer based in Marshall, Minn., as a natural progression of her career.

But Milliren alleges in court documents that what she found when she reported to work in early 2007 was a sexually hostile culture that openly flourished among managers she encountered. Placed in a training program intended to land her in a job overseeing one of the company's 500 depots -- one of only two women at the time to fill such positions -- she complained to senior managers about inappropriate e-mails sent by a senior vice president, sexually derogatory comments and a manager's assessment that it would be inappropriate to hire a woman if it meant she left three children at home.

Milliren said the company's response since then has been disappointing. "Everything that they've done up to this point shocks me."

Her complaints became the heart of an ongoing investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) into the company's hiring practices. Such investigations usually take about a year, but for more than two years the federal agency and Schwan's have fought over release of company records.

The dispute heads to U.S. District Court Nov. 4 before Magistrate Judge Janie Mayeron. Schwan's executives declined to comment for this article, but in responses filed with the EEOC, they've said the agency has requested irrelevant documents or launched an overly broad search of company records. Schwan's also has complained about not having enough time to respond.

The EEOC has yet to rule on Milliren's complaint, saying it has yet to see Schwan's documents that would help decide the case.

EEOC lawyer Nicholas Pladson eventually filed a subpoena against Schwan's asking for a company list of all general managers, their names and gender and date of hire, as well as documents that show how people are selected for the general manager program. He's also asked for a list of people who have completed the general manager training program since Jan. 1, 2006, along with their current employment status, gender and other information.

Pladson said the agency typically sees 35 to 55 cases nationwide in which subpoenas are challenged. This is the first in Minnesota since 2007, he said. "It certainly sort of throws a wrench into the wheels of our investigative machinery."

The EEOC's authority to investigate claims of discrimination stems from the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Milliren filed her discrimination case with the EEOC on June 19, 2007, about four months after her training began and about two months after she resigned from the company.

Schwan's said in its response that Milliren "displayed performance concerns" during her time at the company; it otherwise denied her allegations. The company told the EEOC it had offered Milliren two options for staying at the company but that she resigned instead.

An EEOC lawyer sent three letters to the company seeking more information about Milliren's case before filing a subpoena on May 7, 2008.

The EEOC filed a second subpoena earlier this year, then extended the deadline for the company's response when Schwan's objected that it hadn't been allowed sufficient time to respond. The company said the EEOC was acting beyond its authority, that the requests were "vague, overly broad and burdensome," and that they seek information irrelevant to the charge.

"As the 'largest home delivery frozen food company in the United States,' [Schwan's] has clearly mastered the logistical challenge of millions of customer orders and delivering a cornucopia of frozen food products to America's doorstep. It is therefore inconceivable that [Schwan's] cannot respond to the EEOC's three simple requests in subpoena," Pladson wrote in his court pleadings. He wants an order directing Schwan's to comply with the EEOC's document requests.

Milliren, meanwhile, said she's eager to see the case move ahead. The longer the case continues, the more likely it seems to her that Schwan's lacks a good defense.

"Why would they have not wanted this to go away a long time ago, if they had the information to provide?" Milliren said.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329