Can an employer use arrest and criminal records to reject a job applicant?
There have been some cases where the EEOC has found the blanket use of arrest or criminal records as a basis for rejecting job applicants to be unlawful if such use results in a disporportionate effect on the rejection of African American job applicants, unless an employer can show that an employee having a clean criminal history is necessary to the operation of the employer’s business. When refusing to hire based on an applicants criminal history, an employer should be able to show that it first considered the circumstances surrounding the particular case and that the employment of such an applicant would be inconsistent with the safe and efficient operation of the business. In addition to federal discrimination laws, most states have their own laws regarding the extent to which arrest and criminal records can be used as a basis for rejecting a job applicant.
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