Need Not Apply: The Racial Disparate Impact of Pre-employment Criminal Background Checks

Details: Parent Category: Basic Needs; Category: Labor and Employment; 27 April 2012; Hits: 48003

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V. CONCLUSION

According to Voltaire, work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and The use of pre-employment background checks as a screening mechanism has brought these three evils together to effectively prevent former criminal offenders belonging to a racial minority group from successfully reentering into society. The practice has a disparate impact on racial minorities and, given that a criminal record bears no demonstrable relationship to successful job performance as required by Griggs and its progeny, it cannot be considered either job-related or consistent with business necessity. Consequently, Congress should amend FCRA by including a general prohibition of the use of pre-employment criminal background checks in the Equal Employment for All Act. Whether Congress is willing to enact legislation of this sort is yet to be seen, but one thing is clear: change must come soon.

. Civil Rights Fellow, Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian, 2010-2012.

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Race, Racism and the Law
Vernellia R. Randall
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