背景调查——从 犯罪历史检查 到 简历验证检查 再到 驾驶记录检查——在帮助雇主确定哪些候选人是合格的、诚实的、值得信赖的、安全的并且有可能在某个职位上取得成功方面发挥着至关重要的作用。正确的背景调查协议是雇主尽职调查的关键部分——这一步可以帮助他们避免招聘不当及其带来的后果。然而，过度热心的背景调查方法或审查过程可能会产生负面影响。许多雇主正在考虑的一个后果是背景调查如何成为黑人求职者和其他有色人种的重大障碍。

10 月 2 日， 美联社 发布了一份报告， 重点关注背景调查对寻求执法工作的黑人候选人的影响。文章指出：“执法机构的黑人申请者经常被带有种族偏见的公务员考试提前过滤掉，这些年来在多起诉讼中提出了指控，”文章指出，这表明过去十年在匹兹堡和巴尔的摩县因招聘歧视而提起的诉讼的警察。

这篇文章还指出，“由于犯罪背景调查显示了可归因于歧视性警务的毒品和交通违法行为，以及可能源于种族定性、记录和采访显示的不良财务历史，申请人被拒绝。”

根据美国司法部的数据，当地警察中有 11% 的警官是黑人。这个数字与全国人口相差不远（根据人口普查数据，大约 12% 的美国人是黑人）。然而，文章指出，黑人在较小的社区中的代表人数往往更少。由于美国黑人在大城市的人口比例较高，因此他们在大多数警察部队中的代表性往往不足。美联社 文章中引用的一个例子 是俄亥俄州托莱多市，那里只有 13% 的警察是黑人，而该市人口的比例为 27%。

美联社 认为，在雇用警察方面的歧视导致警察部队的多样性减少，从而在雇用和维持治安期间执法层面的歧视问题长期存在。在乔治·弗洛伊德 (George Floyd) 被杀之后，这个问题越来越受到关注和审查。

招聘中的歧视性做法并非孤立于执法部门。9 月初，CNBC 发表了一篇文章， 详细介绍了 Target 承诺在未来三年内将其员工中黑人员工的比例至少增加 20%。目前，Target 和许多其他大公司都严重偏向白人，其员工总数的 50% 和领导层的 75%。

在弗洛伊德 (Floyd) 死后，推动这些公司实现更大多元化的势头有所增强。Target 还表示，它多年来一直致力于使其员工队伍多样化。该公司因歧视性背景调查政策和平等就业机会委员会 (EEOC) 违规行为而持续提起集体诉讼，损失超过 670 万美元。

雇主如何避免无意中歧视有色人种的背景调查政策？熟悉 EEOC 指南、公平信用报告法 (FCRA) 要求和其他立法有助于支持更多样化的招聘工作。《哈佛商业评论 》最近的 一篇文章 呼吁商界领袖 尽自己的一份力量，通过实施公平机会招聘来“帮助解决美国社会体系中的一些漏洞”，这是“前提是每个人，无论背景如何，都有权成为对他们有资格担任的角色进行公平评估。”

公平机会招聘通常与禁止盒子政策同时进行，但更进一步。虽然禁止该框要求雇主从工作申请中删除犯罪历史，并且通常禁止在求职面试期间提出任何与犯罪历史相关的问题，但公平招聘也意味着直到候选人筛选过程的后期才进行背景调查。

在大多数情况下，雇主会将检查推迟到面试过程之后，因为候选人将有公平的机会证明自己的工作资格，而不会因为犯罪记录而产生先入为主的观念。在 HBR 援引研究其中规定，有犯罪记录的美国白人的17％会得到雇主第二次看，与美国黑人只是百分之五。公平机会招聘是雇主更加关注每位候选人及其资格的一种方式，而不仅仅是他们的犯罪记录。

在 GOOHO.CN，我们可以帮助您为您的企业设计更公平、更公平的背景调查流程。除了提供各种犯罪历史检查、验证检查、民事历史检查等，我们还有 一个学习中心， 里面有很多有用的资源，可以帮助您了解背景调查法律以及背景调查如何导致对少数群体的意外歧视. 立即访问学习中心并免费探索我们的内容。

criminal history checks to resume verification checks to driving record checks—play vital roles in helping employers determine which candidates are qualified, honest, trustworthy, safe, and likely to be successful in a position. The right background check protocol is a crucial piece of due diligence for employers—a step that can help them to avoid bad hires and the consequences that they bring. However, an overzealous background check approach or review process can have negative effects. One consequence that many employers are reckoning with is how background checks can become a significant barrier to Black job seekers and other people of color.

On October 2, the Associated Press published a report focused on the impact of background checks on Black candidates seeking jobs in law enforcement. “Black applicants to law enforcement agencies are often filtered out early through racially biased civil service exams, accusations spelled out in multiple lawsuits over the years,” the article notes, indicating lawsuits from the past decade in Pittsburgh and Baltimore County over discrimination in the hiring of police officers.

The article also states that “applicants are rejected thanks to criminal background checks that turn up drug and traffic offenses attributable to discriminatory policing, and poor financial histories that can stem from racial profiling, records and interviews show.”

Based on numbers from the U.S. Department of Justice, 11 percent of officers in local police are Black. This number isn’t far from the national population (around 12 percent of Americans are Black, based on Census data). However, the article notes that Black individuals tend to be even less represented in smaller communities. Since Black Americans occupy higher rates of the population in bigger cities, they tend to be underrepresented on most police forces. One example cited in the AP article is the city of Toledo, Ohio, where only 13 percent of the police force is Black compared to 27 percent of the city population.

AP argues that discrimination in the hiring of police officers leads to less diversity on police forces, which perpetuates problems with discrimination at the law enforcement level during both hiring and policing. This issue is gaining more attention and scrutiny in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

Discriminatory practices in hiring are not isolated to law enforcement. In early September, CNBC published an article detailing Target’s pledge to increase the representation of Black employees across its workforce by at least 20 percent over the next three years. Currently, Target—and many other major companies—skews heavily white with 50 percent of the total workforce and 75 percent of the leadership.

A push for greater diversity in these companies has picked up steam following Floyd’s death. Target also says that it has been working on diversifying its workforce for several years now. The company has sustained class-action lawsuits over discriminatory background check policies and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) violations that cost it more than $6.7 million.

How can employers avoid background check policies that unintentionally discriminate against people of color? Getting familiar with EEOC guidance, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requirements, and other legislation can help support more diverse hiring efforts. A recent Harvard Business Review piece called for business leaders to do their part “to help address some of the cracks in America’s social system” by implementing fair chance hiring, which is “the premise that everyone, regardless of background, has the right to be fairly assessed for a role they are qualified for.”

Fair chance hiring typically goes in hand with ban the box policies but takes them one step further. While ban the box requires employers to remove criminal history from job applications and usually prohibits any criminal-history-related questions during job interviews, fair chance hiring also means not running background checks until later in the candidate screening process.

In most cases, employers delay checks until after the interview process, since a candidate will then have had a fair opportunity to prove their qualifications for a job without their criminal record creating preconceived notions. The HBR cited research which states that 17 percent of white Americans with a criminal record will get a second look from employers, versus just five percent of Black Americans. Fair chance hiring is a way for employers to focus more on each candidate and their qualifications rather than just their criminal record.

At backgroundchecks.com, we can help you design a fairer and more equitable background check process for your business. In addition to providing a variety of criminal history checks, verification checks, civil history checks, and more, we have a Learning Center filled with useful resources to help you learn about background check laws and how background checks can lead to unintended discrimination against minority groups. Visit the Learning Center and explore our content for free today.