The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) announced recently that it will hold a public meeting on the use of criminal history records in employment on July 26 in Washington D.C.
According to its website …The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.
Presumably, these hearings will help determine if criminal records background checks are discriminatory and inhibits certain ethnic groups from gaining employment. Some groups content that since certain ethnic groups incur a disproportionate number of criminal records. As such, there is the belief that their admission of a criminal history can nullify their job applications with different companies. Experts from all area will be present to offer statements.
