EEOC Warning to Employers about Background Checks

The EEOC has sent a warning to employers that they need to be very careful about the way they use criminal and credit reports when it comes to hiring. They have defined two primary practices that cause the most problems for employers: 

 

Blanket policies against hiring anyone with a criminal record or poor credit score, and;

Failing to show the correlation between background checks and the job itself.

The EEOC has taken this stance due to an increase in discrimination lawsuits based on these issues. The EEOC has designed a new program called E-RACE (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment) The E-RACE Initiative is designed to improve EEOC’s efforts to ensure workplaces are free of race and color discrimination. Specifically, the EEOC will identify issues, criteria and barriers that contribute to race and color discrimination, explore strategies to improve the administrative processing and the litigation of race and color discrimination claims, and enhance public awareness of race and color discrimination in employment. 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces Federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. These laws protect employees and job applicants against employment discrimination when it involves:

• Unfair treatment because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. 
• Harassment by managers, co-workers, or others in the workplace, because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. 
• Denial of a reasonable workplace accommodation that the employee needs because of religious beliefs or disability. 
• Retaliation because the employee complained about job discrimination, or assisted with a job discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

Not all employers are covered by the laws the EEOC enforces, and not all employees are protected. This can vary depending on the type of employer, the number of employees it has, and the type of discrimination alleged.

It is important that employers show that they do not give preference to any particular race or color, even if unknowingly. It is recognized that some information that is uncovered in a background check provides insight on an applicant’s job suitability in certain fields of employment. These can include jobs where employees will come in contact with customers, handle case, drive vehicles and deal with minors. It is important to show the correlation between the background checks and the suitability for the job.

 

These are all reasons it is so important for every employer to have a written employment policy spelling out the requirments for each position and to not have a blanket policy to not hire people with criminal histories or poor credit.

For more information on the EEOC E-RACE program Click Here to go to the EEOC Website.

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