EEOC Guidance: Jury is Out on Use of Criminal Records
May 2012
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On 25 April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its most recent version of its Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Significantly, very little has changed since the EEOC issued its initial Policy Statement on the use of Criminal Records in 1987. Accordingly, while a tune up of an employer's pre-hire due diligence may be in order, wholesale abandonment of the use of conviction records as a selection device is not. The use of arrest records, however, remains problematic and is illegal in many states.