Federal regulators Tuesday accused two large employers of improperly using criminal-background checks in hiring, the latest salvo in a contentious debate over whether such screening amounts to discrimination against black applicants.
In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said two companies discount retailer Dollar General Corp. DG +0.59% and a U.S. unit of German auto maker BMW AG BMW.XE -2.04% generally barred potential employees based on the criminal checks, when they should have reviewed each applicant. The commission said the policies had the effect of discriminating against black applicants.
At BMW, the EEOC alleges that the auto maker hired a new logistics contractor at its Spartanburg, S.C., assembly plant in 2008, and required 645 employees of the prior contractor to undergo a new criminal background check. Of those, 55% were black; but 80% of the 88 terminated employees were black. Some of the dismissed employees had worked for various contractors at the BMW plant for as long as 14 years. BMW employs 9,000 people in the U.S.
BMW of North America said, "BMW believes that it has complied with the letter and spirit of the law and will defend itself against the EEOC's allegations of race discrimination.…We have a strong culture of nondiscrimination as evidenced by the company's highly diverse workforce."
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