Walmart class action alleging background check discrimination to proceed

Update:

• A federal judge in New Jersey ruled that Walmart must face claims it discriminated against job applicants with criminal backgrounds. 
• The plaintiffs accuse Walmart of using broad screenings that allegedly don’t take rehabilitation into account. 
• U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti ruled a six-year statute of limitations could be applied to the claims, longer than a two-year statute of limitations Walmart suggested.
• Walmart, in asking for the two-year statute of limitations, unsuccessfully argued the action sounded like a tort.
• The claims have been filed under Pennsylvania’s Criminal History Record Information Act. 

(July 21, 2021)

Walmart unlawfully blocks people with criminal backgrounds from getting jobs with a policy that disproportionately hurts Black and Latinx jobseekers, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Jacqueline Ramos filed a class action lawsuit against Walmart Monday in a New Jersey federal court, alleging the retailer’s screening policy violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Law360 reported.

Ramos says she applied for a job at Walmart and got a job offer, but then the offer was rescinded when she told the company she had a prior felony conviction.

She says she was invited to apply for an IT-support role after doing a six month, full-time internship at Walmart’s subsidiary, Jet.com. 

She completed two successful interviews, yet was kicked back after criminal history screening company First Advantage contacted her about her conviction.

Despite explaining she was with friends who committed the crime in question and took a plea deal for fear of receiving a lengthy prison sentence, her job offer was rescinded, she says.

Questioning the decision, her former supervisor and the recruiter told her “the decision was out of their hands,” the complaint says. “Ms. Ramos understood this to mean that the decision was to be made at the corporate level.” 

She claims Walmart’s screening policy perpetuates “the gross racial disparities in the criminal justice system into its applicant pool.”

“It is more than plausible that by screening for criminal history, Walmart’s hiring practices import the nation’s severe racial disparities in conviction rates, resulting in a policy and practice that disproportionately screens out Black and Latinx applicants, when compared with white applicants,” the complaint says.

Ramos says Walmart implements an overbroad criminal history screen that fails to actually assess whether an applicant’s convictions are job-related or create a business-necessity for denial of employment.

Black and Latino applicants are disproportionately screened out, violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, Ramos alleges.

She seeks to represent a nationwide Class of Black and Latinx people denied employment at Walmart due to their criminal history, as well as a New Jersey subclass.

Uber is facing similar class action charges. In an April class action lawsuit, plaintiffs alleged Uber unlawfully uses criminal history records to discriminate against drivers, fueling “significant racial disparities” across the United States.

Uber is accused of violating the city’s Fair Chance Act (FCA) by either firing drivers or denying people the opportunity to work for them based on the results of background checks. 

What do you think about the companies’ hiring practices? Let us know in the comments.! 

Ramos is represented by Gregory S. Chiarello, Ossai Miazad, Mikael A. Rojas and Christopher M. McNerney of Outten & Golden LLP and Michael C. Pope of Youth Represent. 

The Walmart criminal background class action lawsuit is Jacqueline Ramos, et al. v. Walmart Inc., Case No. 2:21-cv-13827, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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