Perform Criminal Background Checks at Your Peril

WSJ ^ | 2-15-13 | james bovard

[TurboZamboni]

Should it be a federal crime for businesses to refuse to hire ex-convicts? Yes, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently released 20,000 convoluted words of regulatory "guidance" to direct businesses to hire more felons and other ex-offenders.

In the late 1970s, the EEOC began stretching Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sue businesses for practically any hiring practice that adversely affected minorities. In 1989, the agency sued Carolina Freight Carrier Corp. of Hollywood, Fla., for refusing to hire as a truck driver a Hispanic man who had multiple arrests and had served 18 months in prison for larceny. The EEOC argued that the only legitimate qualification for the job was the ability to operate a tractor trailer.

U.S. District Judge Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Jr., in ruling against the agency, said: "EEOC's position that minorities should be held to lower standards is an insult to millions of honest Hispanics. Obviously a rule refusing honest employment to convicted applicants is going to have a disparate impact upon thieves."

The EEOC ignored that judicial thrashing and pressed on.

[Blue Collar Christian]

OK, so your suggested solution(s)?

[arthurus]

the new EEOC mandate may harm the very groups it purports to help.

The point of the requirement and of all such regulation is not protection of minorities. The point is simply minute control of business decision making of all kinds at all levels.

[Beagle8U]

Just make sure they list the HS they graduated from, check to make sure they did. Then just check ‘demographics’ on the computer. Off to the trash can goes every job application that reads like a lawsuit looking for a place to happen.

I've watched the HR dept do it.

They passed a law against requiring a photo on resumes, and the ‘diversity’ crowd names their kids Shaqueilla and Jumal? Clever indeed.

[grumpygresh]

So maybe a child care center should hire a qualified pedophile?
I’ll bet there are scammer ex-cons out there, experts in the EEOC law intricacies, who seek out unwary employers as prey.
If you do background checks on potential hires, you might want this done via attorney. That way, the check would be protected under attorney client privilege.

[TurboZamboni]

We have gangs in the military now. Nothing surprises me any more.

[Kozak]

“I’ll scrutinize the resume even more carefully and reject everyone with a significant gap in employment “

Bingo.

[45semi]

"the ‘diversity’ crowd names their kids Shaqueilla and Jumal"

And unless its a basement-level-no-brains-required, no-access-to-easily-pocketed-valuables,
take-out-the-trash-when-your-not-flipping-the-burgers job,

that application goes in the round, metal 'filing cabinet' on the floor beside your desk!

[Red Boots]

Ex-felons need jobs too. They have families and bills to pay. Many states won’t allow drug-related felons to get welfare. So... they have to get some sort of a job to live. If our goal in prison is to punish and rehabilitate, then after they’ve completed their time, there needs to be assistance in getting a job. If we don’t have legitimate jobs for ex-felons, we’re basically guaranteeing that they’ll resort to committing crime.

I find your use of the word "we" somewhat disturbing. Who is this "we"? .

Feel free to hire all the ex-felons you wish at your company; but keep your collectivism out of mine.

[Starstruck]

If the government says they can not be trusted to own a gun, why should I trust them around my business?