President Biden’s recent campaign stop at a Sheetz convenience store ended in an unexpected twist. While sipping on his cup of coffee and chatting with employees and customers, little did he know that Sheetz had something else brewing in the background. The company was hit with a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for racially discriminatory hiring practices. The EEOC alleges that Sheetz’s implementation of a screening process for criminal convictions and subsequent denial of employment based on those records violates Title VII. Such practices can have a discriminatory impact on job seekers, and the EEOC argues that Sheetz’s policy is not job-related, nor consistent with business necessity. This serves as a timely reminder for all businesses to ensure their hiring practices are fair and free of any biases.
