Current:Home > Contact-usConvenience store chain where Biden bought snacks while campaigning hit with discrimination lawsuit-LoTradeCoin
Convenience store chain where Biden bought snacks while campaigning hit with discrimination lawsuit
View Date:2024-12-23 22:51:38
A convenience store chain where President Joe Biden stopped for snacks this week while campaigning in Pennsylvania has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials who allege the company discriminated against minority job applicants.
Sheetz Inc. which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants whom the company deemed to have failed a criminal background check, according to U.S. officials.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit in Baltimore against Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz and two subsidary companies, alleging the chain’s longstanding hiring practices have a disproportionate impact on minority applicants and thus run afoul of federal civil rights law.
Sheetz said Thursday it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
“Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are. We take these allegations seriously. We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute,” company spokesperson Nick Ruffner said in a statement.
The privately held, family-run company has more than 23,000 employees and operates convenience stores and gas stations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on Wednesday, the day Biden stopped at a Sheetz market on a western Pennsylvania campaign swing, buying snacks, posing for photos and chatting up patrons and employees.
Federal officials said they do not allege Sheetz was motivated by racial animus, but take issue with the way the chain uses criminal background checks to screen job seekers. The company was sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin.
“Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” EEOC attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement.
“Even when such necessity is proven, the practice remains unlawful if there is an alternative practice available that is comparably effective in achieving the employer’s goals but causes less discriminatory effect,” Lawrence said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many job applicants have been affected, but the agency said Sheetz’s unlawful hiring practices date to at least 2015.
The EEOC, an independent agency that enforces federal laws against workplace discrimination, is seeking to force Sheetz to offer jobs to applicants who were unlawfully denied employment and to provide back pay, retroactive seniority and other benefits.
The EEOC began its probe of the convenience store chain after two job applicants filed complaints alleging employment discrimination.
The agency found that Black job applicants were deemed to have failed the company’s criminal history screening and were denied employment at a rate of 14.5%, while multiracial job seekers were turned away 13.5% of the time and Native Americans were denied at a rate of 13%.
By contrast, fewer than 8% of white applicants were refused employment because of a failed criminal background check, the EEOC’s lawsuit said.
The EEOC notified Sheetz in 2022 that it was likely violating civil rights law, but the agency said its efforts to mediate a settlement failed, prompting this week’s lawsuit.
veryGood! (83)
Related
- Denver district attorney is investigating the leak of voting passwords in Colorado
- Adam Harrison, a son of ‘Pawn Stars’ celebrity Rick Harrison, has died in Las Vegas at age 39
- Two Florida residents claim $1 million prizes from state's cash-for-life scratch-off game
- Massachusetts man brings his dog to lotto office as he claims $4 million prize
- Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
- Do you know these famous Aquarius signs? 30 A-listers (and their birthdays)
- Parents of Mississippi football player who died sue Rankin County School District
- Hey Now, These Lizzie McGuire Secrets Are What Dreams Are Made Of
- Jason Kelce Offers Up NSFW Explanation for Why Men Have Beards
- Inter Miami vs. El Salvador highlights: Lionel Messi plays a half in preseason debut
Ranking
- Man jailed after Tuskegee University shooting says he fired his gun, but denies shooting at anyone
- Luis Vasquez, known as musician The Soft Moon, dies at 44
- A Hindu temple built atop a razed mosque in India is helping Modi boost his political standing
- Indignant Donald Trump pouts and rips civil fraud lawsuit in newly released deposition video
- 12 college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland
- Ohio State lands Caleb Downs, the top-ranked player in transfer portal who left Alabama
- Heat retire Udonis Haslem's No. 40 jersey. He's the 6th Miami player to receive the honor
- Dricus Du Plessis outpoints Sean Strickland at UFC 297 to win the undisputed middleweight belt
Recommendation
-
Dozens indicted over NYC gang warfare that led to the deaths of four bystanders
-
Los Angeles Times guild stages a 1-day walkout in protest of anticipated layoffs
-
Texas couple buys suspect's car to investigate their daughter's mysterious death
-
An unknown culprit has filled in a Chicago neighborhood landmark known as the ‘rat hole’
-
One person is dead after a shooting at Tuskegee University
-
As the Northeast battles bitter winter weather, millions bask in warmer temps... and smiles
-
Hey Now, These Lizzie McGuire Secrets Are What Dreams Are Made Of
-
Texas child only survivor of 100 mph head-on collision, police say