A popular convenience store is being sued by federal officials after being accused of discriminating against minority job applicants.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit on April 17 — the same day President Joe Biden dropped into a western-Pennslyvania location — in Baltimore, against Sheetz Inc. and two subsidiary companies. The suit alleges the company’s hiring policy has a disproportionate impact on minority applicants and potentially violates federal civil rights law.
Sheetz Inc. allegedly discriminated against Black, Native American, and ethnic job applicants by
automatically weeding out potential employees whom the company thought would fail a criminal background check. The suit was filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, and national origin.While federal officials haven’t labeled Sheetz’s practices as racially motivated, they do take issue with how the chain uses criminal background checks to screen job seekers. “Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” EEOC attorney Debra M. Lawrence said.
“Even when such necessity is proven, the practice remains unlawful if there is an alternative practice available that is comparably effective in achieving the employer’s goals but causes less discriminatory effect.”
An investigation began after two applicants filed employment discrimination complaints. They found Black job applicants were denied employment at a rate of 14.5% compared to Native Americans, and other minority job seekers were turned away over 13% of the time.
Less than 8% of white applicants were refused employment because of criminal background checks.
Sheetz denied the discriminatory allegations in a statement released on April 18, saying it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.” “Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are. We take these allegations seriously,” spokesperson Nick Ruffner said, according to Fox Business.
“We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute.”
It’s not clear how many applicants were affected by the alleged practices, but the EEOC said the policies of the privately held, family-run company with more than 23,000 employees, date back to at least 2015. The agency hopes to force Sheetz to offer jobs to applicants who were denied employment unlawfully and provide back pay, retroactive seniority, and other benefits.