51�Թ�

Legal sanctions, combined with the requirement that all employers of 100 or more employees had to file an annual hiring report with the EEOC, led many major firms and state and local governments to take positive steps to ensure that hiring was done in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.

Maximizing potential through equal opportunity is what federal civil rights laws, and the EEOC, were created to achieve 60 years ago.

The EEOC, an independent agency that enforces federal laws against workplace discrimination, is seeking to force Sheetz to offer jobs to applicants who were unlawfully denied employment and to provide back pay, retroactive seniority and other benefits.

By contrast, fewer than 8% of white applicants were refused employment because of a failed criminal background check, the EEOC’s lawsuit said.

The EEOC’s regulations, which will be used as a framework to enforce the law, will go into effect on June 18.