Supermarket chain Sheetz has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials that accuses the corporate of discriminating against minority applicants.
U.S. officials said Sheetz Inc., which operates greater than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by robotically screening out applicants the corporate believed had failed a criminal background check.
President Joe Biden stopped by Sheetz for snacks while campaigning in Pennsylvania this week.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit in Baltimore against Altoona, Pennsylvania-based Sheetz and two subsidiaries, alleging that the chain’s long-standing hiring practices disproportionately impact minority applicants and violate state civil rights laws Federal.
Sheetz said Thursday that 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 sought to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute,” company spokesman Nick Ruffner said in a press release.
The privately held, family-owned company employs greater than 23,000 people 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 Campaign changes in western PennsylvaniaBuy snacks, pose for photos and chat with customers and employees.
Federal officials said they don’t allege that Sheetz was motivated by racial animosity, but take issue with the way in which 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 employment discrimination based on race, sex, religion and national origin.
“Federal law requires that employment practices that have a disparate impact based on race or other protected classifications must be demonstrated by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the jobs in question,” said EEOC Attorney Debra M. Lawrence a press release.
“Even if such a necessity is established, the practice remains unlawful if an alternative practice is available that is comparatively effective in achieving the employer’s objectives but has less discriminatory effects,” Lawrence said.
It was not immediately clear how many candidates were affected, however the agency said Sheetz’s illegal hiring practices date back to not less than 2015.
The EEOC, an independent agency that enforces federal employment discrimination laws, is in search of to force Sheetz to supply jobs and supply back pay, retroactive seniority and other advantages to applicants who were unlawfully denied employment.
The EEOC began investigating the supermarket chain after two applicants filed complaints alleging employment discrimination.
The agency found that black job applicants failed the corporate’s criminal background check and were denied employment 14.5% of the time, while multiracial job seekers were turned away 13.5% of the time and Native Americans were denied 13% of the time. of cases were rejected %.
In contrast, fewer than 8% of white applicants were denied employment due to a failed criminal background check, the EEOC lawsuit says.
The EEOC told Sheetz in 2022 that it was likely violating civil rights laws, however the agency said its efforts to broker a settlement failed, resulting in the lawsuit this week.
