While employers may argue that a criminal record or poor credit rating indicates that a job applicant may not be the best fit, an Associated Press article reported that some such screening tactics are being challenged in court.
Specifically, this means prospective employees may want to call Illinois employment lawyers if they suspect pre-employment screenings are discriminatory in nature. All pre-employment credit checks will be illegal in Illinois starting January 1, as we blogged about last week.
Of course, jobless applicants may not be privy to why they weren't hired or the motivation to file a claim even if they did.
Legal challenges usually come from those already employed who claim they were fired because of the findings from a background check, including Oakland bus driver and mother Adrienne Hudson. Her employer found out that she had been convicted of welfare fraud seven years prior to her termination.
She sued her employer, alleging its pre-employment background checks discriminated against minority job seekers because they have much higher arrest and conviction rates than white job seekers. Her former employer, First Transit declined to comment; but Adrienne Hudson, who is black, explained her case to reporters:
"People make mistakes. But when they correct their mistake, they should not be punished again outside of the court system."
Although 38 percent of the prison population is African American, that is more than three times the roughly 12 percent of the general population that is African American.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agrees with Adrienne Hudson. EEOC assistant legal counsel Carol Miaskoff explained that the increased use of such background checks has made the issue much more pronounced:
"Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease."
Speak with a Chicago employment lawyer if you believe you might have a similar case.
Related Resources:
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Employers Want Online Passwords and Usernames for Background Checks? (FindLaw'a Law & Daily Life Blog)
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