EEOC's own hiring practices not an issue, judge rules

The Washington Examiner reports:

A South Carolina judge ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not have to divulge how it uses criminal background checks in its own hiring practices, saying that it was not relevant to the agency's anti-discrimination lawsuits.

BMW Manufacturing had sought the policy, claiming it was important to the Spartanburg, S.C., company's defense against an EEOC lawsuit charging that the carmaker's hiring policy was racially discriminatory.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacquelyn D. Austin rejected that claim, saying the government had different responsibilities than the private sector and therefore EEOC's own internal policies were not relevant to the laws it enforced. "[T]here is no basis on which the court can conceive that the business necessity for a criminal conviction policy for the EEOC and BMW would be based on the same job-necessity in light of the job requirements of the individuals each would seek to employ," she said.
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The EEOC filed the case against BMW Manufacturing last year. It said the company's blanket policy of rejecting some applicants based on their criminal records resulted in "disparate impact" against African-Americans and was therefore discriminatory.

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