Gas station chain Sheetz has been sued for conducting criminal background checks on its job applicants.
The lawsuit was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and lists Sheetz, Inc.; Sheetz Distribution Services, LLC; and CLI Transport, LP as the defendants. The EEOC says that Sheetz has disproportionately screened out black, Native American, Alaska Native, and multiracial applicants from its hiring process due to the chain not hiring applicants with criminal conviction records.
“Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence said. “Even when such necessity is proven, the practice remains unlawful if there is an alternative practice available that is comparably effective in achieving the employer’s goals but causes less discriminatory effect.”
EEOC’s lawsuit specifically claims that Sheetz is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. However, the lawsuit does not allege that the gas station chain was motivated by race when making its hiring decisions.
This new lawsuit was filed on Thursday, just a day after President Joe Biden made a stop at one of Sheetz’s locations in Pittsburgh. Biden had been in the Keystone State to campaign in several major cities for his 2024 reelection run.
“Sheetz does not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” Nick Ruffner, a public relations manager for Sheetz, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are. We take these allegations seriously. We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute. We will address the claims in Court when the time comes.”
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In 2020, Sheetz introduced the IDEA Initiative, with IDEA being an acronym for “Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility.” The chain’s website states that it launched this initiative to increase its focus on creating an inclusive workplace.
Sheetz has over 600 locations across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. In 2022, Sheetz announced that it would expand its locations to Michigan.
