Flashcards Studio

A former regional sales manager sued her former employer in federal court for sex discrimination and retaliation. She alleges that, during a six-month period, her supervisor reassigned her largest accounts after she complained to human resources and then terminated her for supposedly missing quarterly targets. The employer denies discrimination and says the manager was fired because her region had the worst margins in the company.
The manager served requests for production seeking: all emails sent by any executive about women in sales during the past 12 years; all performance data for every sales employee nationwide for the same period; all documents concerning her supervisor's treatment of any employee who complained to human resources; and all notes prepared by company counsel after interviewing employees once litigation was threatened. The employer objected that the requests were overbroad, disproportionate, privileged, and unduly burdensome. Its written responses simply stated those objections and produced only the manager's personnel file.
The manager moves to compel. The employer moves for a protective order limiting discovery to the manager's region, a three-year period, and nonprivileged business records. How should the court rule? Discuss relevance, proportionality, privilege or work product, and any appropriate discovery management order.