Man Denied Job Over 20-Year-Old Criminal Conviction, Wins Discrimination Lawsuit

A job applicant for a temporary staffing agency was denied a position over a record from the 1980's.  He filed a discrimination case against the temporary staffing agency and won. 

“Employment policies that impose a blanket exclusion on people with past convictions, without any consideration of the relationship of the conviction to the job in question, can constitute unlawful discrimination," Jennifer Clarke, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, said in a press release.

The nonprofit law center helped the man file the employment discrimination lawsuit, which explains why denying an applicant employment based on their criminal record violates the law:

"While such policies are facially neutral, they produce severe disparate impact on racial minorities, including African-American, Native Americans and Latinos, because of the significantly higher rates of criminal convictions experienced by these populations."

Recently Pepsi settled a similar case for $3.1 million dollars for using arrest records that kept approximately 300 people from getting a job.

"More companies are getting sued because of their inconsistent hiring policies, using arrest records, and using convictions that are not within the Federal or State guidelines or inconsistently applying the law", says Bill Whitford, CEO of S2Verify.  "Companies need to review their policy and framework around hiring to adjust to these actions and lawsuits"