New York City – An official from the federal government said that a well-known gas station chain was unfairly hiring Black, Native American, and mixed-race people.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on Thursday saying that Sheetz’s criminal screening process unfairly turned down candidates from legally protected groups. The EEOC said that the gas station chain checks candidates’ criminal records and turns them down.
The suit said that these hiring practices go against Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which says that discrimination in the workplace is illegal.
Some people have had trouble getting jobs because they have criminal backgrounds. A study from the nonprofit RAND Corporation in 2022 found that more than half of jobless men in their 30s have been arrested or convicted of a crime in the past, which keeps them from fully participating in the job market. And it can be even worse for racial groups because they are put in jail at higher rates than White people.
The case doesn’t say that Sheetz actively chose not to hire people based on their race. The store said in a statement that it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
“These claims are taken very seriously.” For almost eight years, we’ve tried to work with the EEOC to find common ground and end this disagreement. Nick Ruffner, Sheetz’s PR manager, said in a statement, “We will deal with the claims in court when the time comes.”
Even though there was a chance to settle the case before it went to court, the EEOC said it would still go to court.
It was said in the lawsuit that the illegal hiring tactics have been going on in Maryland at least since 2015.
Applicants must answer questions about their criminal history and go through a background check with a third-party company as part of the hire process. People who don’t pass the test don’t get the job.
Lawyers say that less than 8% of White applicants failed the screening, while 14.5% of Black candidates did not. Native Americans and candidates of more than one race failed at a rate of about 13%.
The lawsuit said, “Defendants have refused to hire a disproportionately high number of black job applicants because, among other things, they have a criminal justice history.” Statistics show that Black people and Native Americans in the US “are subject to arrest, conviction, and incarceration at significantly higher rates relative to White persons.” This was added to the lawsuit.
The EEOC said that there are other ways to screen people that would not be biased.
“Even if such necessity is proven, the practice is still illegal if there is another practice that is just as effective in meeting the employer’s goals but has less of an unfair effect on employees,” EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement.
Sheetz is being sued to get them to stop hiring people the way they do now and make equal job policies and programs. It also wants the folks who were harmed to get their back pay.
Sheetz has over 600 shops in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This store company on the East Coast is known for having special gas prices on holidays, like $1.776 gas on July 4th.
