CATHERINE D. NETTER v. GUILFORD COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Motz, November 15, 2018,
EEOC – “Participation” in a Title VII investigation doesn’t allow an employee to violate a state law prohibiting going through confidential personnel records without authorization.

Facts: Catherine Netter, an Africa-American, Muslim employee of a North Carolina sheriff’s office, was disciplined in 2014 and passed over for promotion. Netter filed an EEOC complaint and, without authorization, went through confidential personnel files for other employees to show that similarly situated officers, who were neither African-American nor Muslim, were not disciplined.
She copied these files and turned them over to the EEOC.
When this was discovered, Netter was fired.
Netter then sued for retaliation, but the trial court granted judgment to the sheriff.
Netter then appealed, arguing that her action was protected.

Held: The Court held that

Equal Employment – Discrimination – Title VII forbids any employment practice that discriminates against an employee (or prospective employee) on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Equal Employment – Retaliation – Title VII also makes it illegal to retaliate against an employee for: 1) participating in an EEOC investigation and 2) opposing discrimination that she reasonably believes is due to discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Equal Employment – Retaliation – “Participating” in a Title VII investigation “in any manner” is generally protected, even if the participation is “unreasonable” or “irrelevant.”

Retaliation – However, participation in a Title VII investigation does not allow an employee to violate state law in order to search for evidence of a violation.

From the Case: “Netter’s unauthorized review and duplication of confidential personnel files did not constitute protected opposition or participation activity” because going through those records was a violation of North Carolina law.