Dollar General is the latest employer to settle with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its use of criminal history information in the hiring process.
The consent decree memorializing the settlement requires the company to pay $6 million to aggrieved applicants and prohibits it from considering criminal history when hiring unless it engages a criminology consultant to reevaluate its practices.
The outcome sends a strong message to employers—the EEOC has no plans of backing down on its stance that background checks can be unlawful.