It is widely known that the percentage of the American population that has had contact with the criminal justice system has been increasing. For employers, this poses a problem of how and when an individual's arrest or conviction record should be used in selection decisions. Read Chapter V of the EEOC Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Links to an external site.). For this DQ, we are in the fictional U.S. state of Mythopia. When Joe, an African American male, was barely 18 years old, he pled guilty to misdemeanor theft and was placed on probation for six months. This was Joe's first criminal offense of any type. Joe finished high school at 19 and wasn't able to find work until nine months ago when he was hired for a part-time job as a laborer. States differ in terms of how they define expunge. In some states, it merely means that the record is sealed from the public but not from others (courts, law enforcement, department of defense, licensing agencies), while in other states the record is physically destroyed. In every state, adults must file a civil action in court to have their record(s) expunged. There are always requirements that must be satisfied before a record can be expunged. In Mythopia, expunged means that the arrest and conviction records are physically destroyed. Under Mythopian law, an individual who is neither arrested for, nor convicted of, a crime during the two-year period following the person's first misdemeanor conviction can apply to the courts to have the misdemeanor conviction expunged. Joe has been a model citizen and turned 21 years old a month ago. He filed an expungement request in the court, which has ordered the Mythopia Department for Record Expungement (Department) to expunge Joe's conviction and associated records because he has met all the requirements for expungement. Joe has not received any notice that his record has been expunged. He wants to apply for a job with ABC, a private sector company, and knows that ABC's application form asks if the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Three weeks after the court ordered his record expunged, Joe telephones the Department and was told that his request was in the queue of work that should be completed within three days. Two weeks later, Joe fills out the ABC application and checks the "No" box that asks if the applicant has a felony or misdemeanor conviction. The application form has an accuracy verification paragraph, which Joe signed. Joe is hired into an entry level payroll clerk's position, which requires that Joe cash employee paychecks and help "balance" the books. One month after hiring Joe, you discover the information about Joe's conviction because his record hasn't been expunged.
Discuss
(1) The legal and ethical issues and
(2) Whether you would discharge Joe.