Before You Conduct a Criminal Background Check or a Credit Report on a Job Applicant....
Cindy Hanson and Kali Wilson Beyah of “Corporate Counsel” magazine and blog, warn employers to stop using credit reports and criminal background checks to weed out job applicants, or risk being embroiled in an EEOC lawsuit.
EEOC has taken the position that, due to the disproportionate conviction and arrest numbers of African American and Hispanic people as compared to white people, blanket policies regarding employment decisions based on arrest and conviction information are presumed to have a disparate discriminatory impact on African American and Hispanic applicants.
Until the issues are resolved by the courts, employers should make sure background checks are job-related for the position in question and are consistent with business necessity.
I agree with the authors suggestions for employers to;
- Apply testing criteria in the same way to all individuals.
- Audit hiring pools to determine if there is a disparate hiring impact on any one group of applicants.
- Tailor the type of the background check conducted to the nature of the position.
- Document the rationale for the type of the background check conducted.
