Criminal Checks for U.S. Job Seekers Defended by Business Group
Limiting criminal background checks by employers as a way to speed hiring and cut unemployment will lead to unsafe workplaces, a national business group said as the U.S. weighs restrictions on the practice.
“We understand the frustration some have in finding employment, especially in a time of national economic stress,” the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade group, told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today in a letter. “Attempts to ease unemployment frustrations” shouldn’t “come at the expense of keeping people and business safe from physical and financial harm.”
The commission is considering revisions to guidelines on criminal background checks, which took effect in 1987 under President Ronald Reagan. The agency might bar employers from using old arrest or conviction records when reviewing an applicant. The agency held a hearing today on arrest and conviction records as a barrier to employment.
Since the rules took effect, “many employers are routinely excluding all job applicants with criminal records from consideration, no matter how minor or dated their offenses,” said Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project. “Many employers have gone way too far, shutting out highly qualified applicants.”
Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru said criminal checks have a “disparate impact on certain groups.” Unemployment among blacks is 16 percent, according to the New York-based National Employment Law Project. The U.S. jobless rate in June was 9.1 percent, the Labor Department reported.
“The fact, is I think we need to act, and we need to act quickly, and we don’t necessarily need to do it one bite,” he said. “I hope we can make progress and do it soon.”
Barry Hartstein, a lawyer representing employers at Littler Mendelson PC in Chicago, said changing guidelines for background checks will add to the regulatory uncertainty that is hindering businesses, he said.
“The last thing we want to do is create a regulatory quagmire,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net
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