NEW YORK, NY — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted Thursday to revoke its 2012 guidance on how employers use arrest and conviction records in hiring. For more than a decade, that guidance warned employers that blanket bans on applicants with arrest and conviction histories could violate federal civil rights law. JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), the nation’s preeminent organization founded and led by formerly incarcerated people, released the following statement in response.
“The EEOC just walked away from millions of workers with arrest and conviction histories,” said Troy Glover, JLUSA’s vice president of strategic partnerships and government affairs. “For 14 years, this guidance has asked employers simple questions. What was the offense? How long ago did it happen? Does it matter for this job? Now the agency has dropped those questions, and Black and Hispanic job seekers will be disproportionately impacted. At least 70 million Americans have an arrest or conviction history. Most of them just want to work and take care of their families.”
The EEOC’s vote also puts the federal government out of step with the states. Across the country, state and city laws still require employers to judge each applicant’s history on a case-by-case basis. Thursday’s vote doesn’t change those laws. The EEOC’s shift ignores both data-driven workforce strategies and the broader consensus across state jurisdictions:
EEOC findings historically show that blanket criminal exclusions disproportionately bar Black and Hispanic job seekers from equal economic opportunity.
Expanding employment access for individuals with conviction histories strengthens local economies and could add over $70 billion annually to the U.S. GDP.
JLUSA reminds directly-impacted workers, employers, and advocates that executive regulatory changes do not erase federal civil rights laws or end fair chance hiring policies already on the books. Revoking agency guidance does not eliminate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or set aside binding judicial precedent. Directly-impacted people retain the legal right to file lawsuits challenging discriminatory hiring practices under both disparate treatment and disparate impact theories. Federal FCRA procedural requirements and robust state background check laws remain fully enforceable by courts and state regulators.
JustLeadershipUSA will continue to educate directly-impacted people about their rights and organize to hold employers accountable. Administrative rollbacks cannot erase federal civil rights law or extinguish our fight for full economic inclusion.
Learn more about how we are elevating issues impacting the 70+ million Americans with lived experience in the criminal legal system through the JustUS Coordinating Council (JCC) at justuscc.org.