According to USA Today, the lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2013, claimed that when BMW switched logistics contractors for its North Carolina production facility in 2008, it required existing logistics employees to submit to background checks if they wished to continue working at the facility. Subsequently, nearly 100 existing logistics workers, 80 percent of whom were black, did not pass the automakers new round of background checks, which denied employment for any individual with certain convictions regardless of how long ago the incident occurred.
The EEOC alleged that BMW’s background check policy not only disproportionately affected African-Americans but it was also inconsistent with “business necessity.”
P. David Lopez, the EEOC’s general counsel, said in an announcement following the settlement of race discrimination lawsuit that the EEOC “has been clear that while a company may choose to use criminal history as a screening device in employment, Title VII requires that when a criminal background screen results in the disproportionate exclusion of African-Americans from job opportunities, the employer must evaluate whether the policy is job related and consistent with a business necessity.”
Source: USAToday.com, 9/8/2015
Posted: October 8, 2015