NYC Suit Claims Census Bureau Discriminated in Hiring
NEW YORK (AP/WCBS 880) -- A lawsuit in New York claims that the U.S. Census Bureau discriminated in its hiring of more than a million temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census.
Civil rights groups filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan several months ago. It was updated Thursday.
It says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warned the bureau last year that its hiring practices might be discriminatory. The lawsuit said the EEOC told the bureau that its criminal background check policy might "run afoul" of the Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit accused the bureau of illegally screening out applicants with often decades-old arrest records for minor offenses or those who were arrested but never convicted.
Messages left for U.S. Census and EEOC attorneys were not immediately returned.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
