This week’s lesson discussed criminal and credit checks as pre-hire screening policies. Consider and comment on the following questions:
1. Given that which we know about the limitations in the reliability of criminal background checks, do you still agree with their use as a screening tool for hiring purposes? What are your thoughts on the disparate impact discrimination concern resulting from correlations between criminal records and protected classes such as race? Are the EEOC’s guidelines in response to this issue adequate recourse? Why or why not?
2. Given the discord among states about the propriety of credit checks, what are your thoughts on their use? Do they have the potential to create ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ of the kind to which this week’s lesson alluded? Why or why not?