Final IRAC Wk 4 Team

8/13/2019 Final IRAC Wk 4 Team

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IRAC Brief: Dollar General vs. EEOC 1

IRAC Case Study

LAW 531

IRAC BriefDollar General vs. EEOC

How far can an employer go when it comes to background checks? Are they allowed to

use the results as a means of employee termination? These are questions that are not frequently

asked, but often should be. Employers may often feel they have a right to invade a potential


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IRAC BriefDollar General vs. EEOC 2

employees personal information solely because that person is seeking a job. Most states

prohibit an employer from conducting certain background checks on potential and existing

employees. Some employers, however, will bend the rules a little in order to seek incriminating

information against certain employees.

A law suit was filed against Dollar General Corporation and BMW manufacturing plant

in South Carolina for conducting illegal criminal background checks on pre-existing employees

and potential employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed

lawsuits against both companies primarily because the companies seemed to be targeting African

American workers and applicants. When a potential employer conducts a background check,

laws in most states prohibit the use of certain information in hiring decisions (Findlaw.com,

2013). The Dollar General and BMW were both using the criminal background checks to screen

out applicants and terminate certain current employees.

Rule

According to Cheeseman (2013), title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1963 was enacted to

prevent employment discrimination based on race, color, and national origin. In the case of

EEOC against Dollar General, EEOC argues that overly broad criminal background checks are

discriminatory towards African Americans as they are more likely to have arrest records

compared to Caucasian applicants.

Dollar General discriminated against applicants without looking into the charges and whether

there or not were convictions.

Analysis

This week we learned about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC.

The EEOC is the federal administrative agency that is responsible for enforcing most federal


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antidiscrimination laws (Cheeseman, 2013). This law was put in place to protect applicants who

are seeking employment from discrimination. In the case Dollar General v. EEOC one employer

and one applicant were discriminated against because of his or her past. The applicant and the

employer who was fired by Dollar General were both African Americans. According to the

statistics, African Americans have higher arrest and conviction rates than whites. The EEOC

filed a lawsuit to compensate the two individuals for their treatment by Dollar General. The

EEOC took all the proper steps by first investigating the issues that were brought forward by the

two individuals. These lawsuits are something to remind businesses that it is inappropriate to use

conviction records to prevent individuals from working. This is not something that the EEOC

wanted to do because they first took steps toward resolution through a settlement. The new

EEOC guidelines issued last year urge employers to give job applicants a chance to explain past

criminal misconduct before they are rejected ("EEOC sues over criminal background

checks", 2013). In management, it is vital that all labor laws are followed in order to prevent an

organization from unnecessary legal issues.

Conclusion

The two lawsuits filed against Dollar General Stores places responsibility on the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to provide evidence to support stores were using

criminal background checks as a discriminatory practice to fire or not hire African Americans.

Although the EEOC had notified employers of its updates to guidelines that warn employers not

to use overly broad criminal background checks that would limit opportunities for those with

past criminal records (CBSNews.com, 2013) the company still has a right to use information

from background checks, including criminal background checks as part of its hiring practices.


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As an employer that is attempting to prevent negligent hiring claims, Dollar Tree Stores

has a reasonable defense, however the final judgment will be determined based on the evidence

presented by the EEOC. If evidence is proven correct, Dollar Tree is using the criminal

background checks unfairly and is therefore in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of

1963. In a similar and recent case, a judge dismissed the discrimination case on the basis that the

EEOC did not show that the company was discriminating on the basis of race by using criminal

and credit checks in its hiring practices (Thurm, 2013).

References

Background check laws. (2013). Retrieved from http://employment.findlaw.com/hiring-

process/pre-employment-background-check-laws.html

CBSNews.com. (2013). EEOC sues over criminal background checks. Retrieved from
http://employment.findlaw.com/hiring-process/pre-employment-background-check-laws.htmlhttp://employment.findlaw.com/hiring-process/pre-employment-background-check-laws.htmlhttp://employment.findlaw.com/hiring-process/pre-employment-background-check-laws.htmlhttp://employment.findlaw.com/hiring-process/pre-employment-background-check-laws.html


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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/

Cheeseman, H.R. (2013).Business law: Legal environment, online commerce, business ethics,

and international issues (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

EEOC sues over criminal background checks. (2013). Retrieved from

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/

Thurm, S. (2013). EEOC Suffers Setback on Use of Criminal-Background Checks in Hiring.

Retrieved from

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323838204579002892979510718
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323838204579002892979510718http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323838204579002892979510718http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323838204579002892979510718http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetid=2297873c-3d81-4a6d-aea2-fd83abbc2a9e&assetmetaid=5637334e-ad5b-4f8a-889a-4a1f0c6cc7a3http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eeoc-sues-over-criminal-background-checks/

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