BMW to pay $1.6 million in EEOC discrimination case consent decree

has signed a consent decree with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and agreed to pay $1.6 million out to 56 claimants. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, those claimants may have been discriminated against when BMW took adverse action against them due to stringent criminal record checks conducted after they had already been hired. The EEOC had sued because BMW’s background checks were disproportionately screening out black candidates and employees, and race is a protected class under the EEOC. Those 56 claimants that had adverse actions taken against them will be offered the option to come back to work at BMW Manufacturing if they so chose. Despite its payout, under the consent decree BMW Manufacturing claims no liability or guilt about potential racial discrimination. Rather, the consent decree allows the EEOC to provide guidelines for BMW Manufacturing regarding its future behavior when hiring and taking adverse action against existing employees. The consent decree states that BMW may not refuse to hire a logistical employee due to arrests or charges against a candidate if that candidate was not formally convicted (though they can put off a decision until a resolution is reached in an existing case). BMW must also provide an individualized assessment before taking adverse action and deliver it to the employee, as well as provide the employee 21 days to contact the company before disqualifying the job applicant due to something in the candidate’s criminal record. The EEOC does not typically require a company to provide individual assessments. Additionally, taking adverse action after five business days’ notice is standard under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.]]>