U.S. Census Bureau Down For The Count After Certification Ruling In Criminal Background Check Case

Last Tuesday, a Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted partial class certification in a case where plaintiffs allege that the United States Census Bureau used arrest records to screen out job applicants, thereby transferring disparities in arrest and conviction rates for African-Americans and Latinos into the agency's hiring practices and setting up hurdles to employment that disproportionately affected these groups in violation of Title VII.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas certified a class of African-American job seekers who claim to have been adversely impacted by a "30-day letter" that gave applicants 30 days to provide official documentation on all arrests and convictions or by the criteria used to evaluate applicants who responded to that letter. More than 250,000 African-American and 200,000 Latino applicants received the challenged 30-day letter, and less than 1 percent of those people ended up