On August 9, 2013, a Maryland federal district court judge dismissed the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Title VII disparate impact lawsuit against Freeman without trial. The lawsuit was over supposed discriminatory background checks and was dismissed due to discrepancies in the EEOC’s expert report. However, the court understood and acknowledged the business purposes for performing background checks, in addition to the obstacles the EEOC encounters when prosecuting these types of lawsuits.
To learn more about the decision, please see Littler’s ASAP, Federal Court Dismisses EEOC Title VII Disparate Impact Suit Over Alleged Discriminatory Background Checks Without Trial, by Rod Fliegel and Jennifer Mora.