According to a story in The Washington Post, Target has settled a class action lawsuit that claimed the company unlawfully discriminated against blacks and Latinos.
Evidently Target ran background criminal checks on their job applicants during the hiring process.
As part of the settlement:
The big-box chain said Thursday that members of the class-action lawsuit will receive priority in its hiring process for job openings at the company’s 1,800 U.S. stores. Applicants who are no longer in the market for a job — because they’re already employed or are retired, for example — will be eligible for a cash award.
Evidently now companies are required to forgive and forget.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Did Target run such checks only on minority applicants or as a general policy for all applicants? If the latter, so what?
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The article can be read here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/04/05/target-to-pay-3-74-million-to-settle-claims-that-it-discriminated-against-black-latino-job-applicants/?utm_term=.dbfb2e665362
We failed to include that link in the original post.
According to the article the lawsuit started when Target extended a job offer to a lady and then retracted it after running a criminal background check on her. In this case Target did not even consider the applicant’s background until they had decided to hire her.
Brutus
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The article states the lawsuit involved a person with 2 misdemeanor charges that were over 10 years old. Decisions should be made based on severity of the offense and how long ago it occurred. As a customer of Target, or any store, I would definitely be reassured to see a sign in a public area stating all job applicants receive a criminal background check.
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The article also says:
“More than 10 years ago, like many major employers, Target began conducting regular criminal background checks as part of our hiring process to help ensure our stores were safe places to work and shop,” Reck said. “Since then, we’ve revised our hiring practices.”
That means: that Target is no longer safe places to work or shop.
The Criminal Background Checks come . . .AFTER and the last thing BEFORE someone is hired.
So, the gal that was fired-let go . . was TOLD she would be hired, but, was not REALLY hired after the Criminal Background Check.
All they need is HUGE signs that say: “Job Applicants will submit to a Criminal Background Check”
And that should keep unqualified persons from ever filling out an application, no matter what color they are.
So, the way I read it, the Class Action Lawsuit will ONLY give money to those blacks and Hispanics that did not get a job ???
Rather than EVERYONE who did not get hired ???
The white, Asian and Native Americans that did not get hired will get NOTHING ???
Now, that sounds like discrimination to me.
(You all know that some blacks and half-mixed blacks do not LOOK black, so they get nothing either ???)
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I was hired by the State of Texas many years ago after passing a background and credit check. Retired now and doing volunteer work that requires a background check and must be repeated every few years. My skin color is light and am from a northern European ancestry. Was I discriminated against for having to subject to this scrutiny?
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The full article says that apparently criminal background checks are discriminatory because minority employees are more likely to have a criminal record (citing Black incarceration statistics), than white employees. I’ve had my identity stolen once and used for a payday loan right around Christmas time (immediately after filling out a credit app at a local HVAC installation company). One of my credit cards gets cloned about once a year. Why? Most likely because some small business or retail store employee with a criminal history sees this as a victimless crime. The payday loan company recognized as fraud as soon as I called their corporate headquarters and threatened to contact the Texas Attorney General and my credit card company’s algorithms appears to catch questionable charges as they occur. The folks that lost out are the payday loan company, but they deserve it for having no identity verification checks and balances in their application process. So far the credit card company has managed to catch fraud before the charge goes through so no merchants have been harmed. But it is frustrating. Prosecuting businesses for refusing to hire folks with a criminal background who administer that check to all employees equally just exacerbates the problem. We are becoming a nation where actions don’t have consequences if you scream discrimination. I recognize our criminal justice system isn’t perfect, but if committing a crime turns you into a victim that deserves more protection than the public at large, there is something wrong. There are plenty of jobs out there where money doesn’t change hands and a criminal record shouldn’t matter.
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Target had a general policy that applied to all applicants where the last step in the hiring process was a criminal background check, which was disclosed to all job applicant’s at the start.
Target’s hiring process automatically rejected all people with criminal backgrounds.
The complaint alleged that Target’s policies regarding criminal-background checks were too broad and discriminated against African-Americans and Latinos.
According to the lawsuit blacks and hispanics are harmed by the hiring system because they are arrested and incarcerated at higher rates than whites.
The suit cited “systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system”.
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