EEOC to Rescind Enforcement Guidance on Criminal Background Checks. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) plans to rescind its “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,” which it most recently updated in 2012. The Commission has sent the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a draft rescission of the guidance, characterized as a “final rule,” which likely means there will be no opportunity for public comment. The guidance states that an employer’s neutral criminal background check policy could have a disparate impact on protected applicants, and it strongly suggests that employers using background screens deploy a nine-factor “individualized assessment” to avoid potential liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC’s decision to rescind the guidance is consistent with the Commission’s and the administration’s deemphasis of the disparate impact theory of discrimination.
The guidance is an example of how policy debates evolve over time. In 2012, the background check guidance caused quite a stir within the business community, which expressed concern that the update potentially limited employers’ ability to protect employees and customers. Over the years, however, perspectives on the issue evolved, and the Commission came to reconsider its approach. Stephen R. Woods, Gustavo A. Suárez, Amie M. Willis, and Leah J. Shepherd...
[OSEN=Choi Lee-jung Reporter] As past remarks by singer Yang Hong-won expressing his dislike of infidelity resurface, reactions continue to grow that the recent 'motel infidelity allegations' agai...