The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a lawsuit that claims janitorial service provider Diversified Maintenance Systems, LLC deterred African-American applicants by emphasizing the company performed criminal background checks, according to an EEOC press release.
The EEOC – the agency enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination – claims in its lawsuit that the Tampa, Florida-based company violated a federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
Since at least January 1, 2012, the EEOC charges that Diversified engaged in a pattern or practice of race discrimination against African-American job applicants in Maryland, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. areas by refusing to hire a class of African-American job candidates because of their race.
The EEOC said that district managers for Diversified in these areas allegedly instructed area managers to deter black applicants by repeatedly emphasizing to them that the company performed criminal background checks, causing African-American applicants to withdraw from the hiring process as a result. FULL ARTICLE