Discrimination Against Convicted Felons?

UPDATE: The past two weeks, I have been closely following the Prop 8 SSM legal process. I am working to finish an analysis of this issue.

In the month of July, I posted several pieces on race-politics, specifically affirmative action. Having finished "Audacity of Hope" by President Barack Obama, I noted that although Obama did not expressly condemn affirmative action, he did consign it to a category of exhausted programs that "dissect[s] Americans into 'us' and 'them' and that "can't serve as the basis for the kinds of sustained, broad-based political coalitions needed to transform America." As president, Obama has repeatedly eschewed race-targeting (with respect most notably to employment policy) in favor of "universal" reforms that allegedly lift all boats.

Consider this: The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is warning employers that it is illegal to use a prospective employee's past conviction records, even for serious felonies, as an "absolute measure" as to whether they should be hired because this "could limit the employment opportunities of some protected groups."

This is, the EEOC says, because blacks and Hispanics are over-represented among felons.

But blacks and hispanics also have an unfortunate higher high school and college dropout rates than whites and Asians -- surely this could be determined to be a disparate impact. Employing EEOC's "line of logic", will employers be permitted to consider an applicant's educational background and training in the hiring process? Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on age, race, or gender. It does not, however, prohibit discrimination against character.

In 47 of the 50 states, state law holds employers accountable for the irresponsible and/or threatening behavior of an employee if the employer could reasonably anticipate such behavior. With the EEOC's new guideline, employers will be forced to hire an ex-convict, and also be liable for a convict's potential threatening behavior. This is absurd.

While I am in favor of giving people "second chances", I strictly oppose overreaching federal regulations that force businesses to disregard 'character' when determining which prospective employee to hire. When a day care center is forced to hire a man or woman formerly incarcerated for child abuse, we shall see who still disagrees with me.