Convenience Store Chain Sheetz Hit With Discrimination In Hiring Lawsuit
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently filed a lawsuit against Sheetz convenience store chains over a hiring policy that the EEOC said unfairly discriminated against minority candidates. According to the EEOC, Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores across 6 states, discriminated against Black, Native American, and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants who purportedly failed criminal background checks.
The EEOC filed suit against Sheetz stating that their hiring practices have a disproportionate impact on minority applicants and thus violate federal civil rights law. Sheetz released a statement saying that they do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. “Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are. We take these allegations seriously. We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly 8 years to find common ground to resolve this dispute,” a company spokesperson said.
Federal officials say that they do not believe that Sheetz was motivated by racial animus, but take issue with the manner in which Sheetz used criminal background checks to weed out job applicants. The EEOC sued the company under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, and age.
According to the EEOC, “Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue. Even when such necessity is proven, the practice remains unlawful if there is an alternative practice available that is comparably effective in achieving the employer’s goals but causes less discriminatory effect.”
It is not entirely clear how many job applicants were impacted by the illegal hiring policy, but the agency said that Sheetz has been using criminal background checks to weed out applicants since 2015. The EEOC is seeking to force Sheetz to offer jobs to applicants who were unlawfully denied employment and to provide back pay, retroactive seniority, and other benefits. The EEOC began investigating the company after two job applicants filed complaints alleging employment discrimination.
Upon investigating the matter, the EEOC found that Black job applicants failed the company’s criminal history screening and were denied employment at a rate of 14.5%, while multiracial job applicants were turned away 13.5% of the time. Native Americans were denied employment at a rate of 13%. This contrasted with white applicants who failed the test less than 8% of the time.
Ultimately, it is unlawful to put into place a policy that discriminates constructively against any protected class of people.
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Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC represents the interests of Ohio residents who have been unfairly discriminated against in the workplace. We also represent the interests of companies that are facing employment discrimination lawsuits. Call our Columbus employment lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your case right away.
Source:
nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/sheetz-convenience-store-chain-discrimination-lawsuit-eeoc-rcna148567
