Schwan's told to provide data for sex-bias lawsuit

Updated: March 8, 2010 - 8:39 PM

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Schwan's, the frozen food company based in Marshall, Minn., has lost a key battle with the federal government in a nearly three-year-old sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee.

While the long-running case is still nowhere near a resolution, Monday's ruling opens the way for more potential evidence to be obtained by the government.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Janie Mayeron ruled in favor of a federal subpoena sought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the June 2007 case filed by Kim Milliren, who had been a Schwan's management trainee. Milliren claimed she was harassed by Schwan's managers, and then demoted for complaining about it.

The EEOC had been seeking more information than Schwan's was willing to give. Schwan's lawyers previously had called the EEOC's investigation "overly burdensome" and "an impermissible abuse of its investigative authority."

But the judge ruled that Schwan's can't justify failing to comply with the EEOC subpoena, which seeks additional details such as the names and genders of all managers in the category Milliren was training to join. The EEOC also wanted the names of those who completed the training Milliren dropped out of after alleging sexual harassment.

The judge ordered Schwan's to provide all the information sought by the EEOC by March 29.

STEVE ALEXANDER