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"    

Pepsi Beverage Co. Pays $3.1 Million For Using Arrest Records

Pepsi Beverage Co was sued by the EEOC for using arrest records to disqualify approximately 300 applicants.    Recently the EEOC has held hearings on the use of arrest records and background checks to ensure they don't create a disparate impact for Black Americans and Hispanics.

"Companies absolutely need to review their Employment Screening Policies and also take note of using arrest records that do not have a conviction for employment decisions on an applicant."  said, Bill Whitford, CEO of S2Verify.    "As an industry, we are seeing more litigation around disparate impact and not following the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and state laws and regulations.  It is critically important that your Employment Screening Vendor gives you all the facts and follows these rules to ensure 100% compliance."
 
"The FCRA and state laws limit the use of arrest records in making hiring decisions.   In addition, there are many state specific rules around what a CRA (Consumer Reporting Agency) can report to a client."  

"We see many new clients that still don't understand the limitations or complexity of following these rules and regulations.  There previous provider simply didn't keep them informed."

About S2VERIFY:
S2Verify is a leading process innovator in the application of background screening technologies to the needs of business and individuals for employee and tenant information that is comprehensive in scope, delivered quickly to key managers, and easy to read, understand and use by authorized personnel. With offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Miami the privately-held company specializes in providing a customizable yet fully integrated, best-in-class set of background screening services that address business and consumer needs either poorly met or not met at all by leading, nationally-branded providers of mass-market background screening solutions.