Has the EEOC outlawed the you ever been convicted of a crime question on a job application as discriminatory and prejudicial to minorities?

Answer 1

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which enforces the 1964 Civil Rights Act has issued new guidelines in Aug 2012 that appear to outlaw the "Have you ever been convicted of a crime." question on the job application. The reason this is true is that this question serves to disproportionately exclude blacks and other minorities from employment, which is considered illegal discrimination under the !964 Civil Rights Act. Since Blacks and other minorities are disproportionately convicted of crimes a conviction question would be illegally discriminating against these people. The discrimination would not only be illegal for Blacks and minorities but also to any other protected class that faces disproportionate criminal convictions. These classes would include people with cognitive disabilities, older people (The older you are the more likely you will have a criminal record.), physical disabilities, homeless and others. For all these people, under EEOC requirements, which essentially includes almost everyone, the criminal conviction needs to be evaluate on a case by case basis to determine if the criminal conviction would would be something that be related to something required for the job. Each person denied a job base on a conviction is then entitled to a written explanation why the job is being denied and given a chance to give reasons the conviction would not interfere with doing the job. Something like this can only really be done once the person has been offered a job contingent on passing a background evaluation. The application question on convictions simply opens up to many possibilities that discrimination can happen. While technically it's not illegal to put the question on a application, both the EEOC and job applicants can file lawsuits over the discriminatory effects of the question.