EEOC struggles to curb employers’ indiscriminate use of criminal background checks
(The Sentencing Project)
In August, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) responded to a letter from nine State Attorneys General criticizing its efforts to prevent indiscriminate criminal background checks by employers. EEOC stood firm about its 2012 Enforcement Guidance on the use of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The agency maintained that employers may be liable for disparate impact if they uniformly administer “a criminal background check that disproportionately excludes people of a particular race, national origin, or other protected characteristic†when it is not related to the job or necessary for the business, and for disparate treatment if they use “criminal history information differently based on an applicant’s or employee’s race, national origin, or other protected trait.â€
The EEOC has lost several recent court cases enforcing this policy and has been required to pay employers damages.
