The U.S. Census Bureau arrived at a $15 million settlement over a lawsuit which alleged that the agency discriminated black and Hispanic job applicants who've had previous run-ins with the law. According to the complaint, the agency requires applicants to provide documents that would explain their criminal records within 30 days.
Adam Klein, attorney for the plaintiffs, argued that gathering the necessary paperwork was a "literal impossibility" for thousands of these applicants.
According to Reuters, the settlement would require the Census Bureau to hire two "industrial organization" psychologists who would device a criminal history screening criteria for the 2020 census with the goal of limiting disadvantageous effects to African-American and Hispanic job applicants.
"This settlement will require the Census Bureau to replace its arbitrary and racially discriminatory use of criminal records and develop a rational job-related method," Klein said, as quoted by CNN.
In 2010, around four million people applied for part-time Census jobs. 850,000 of them received a letter informing them that their application has been flagged down due to criminal histories. Ultimately, those who failed to provide the required paperwork to explain their records were rejected.
Moreover, the complaint said that some of the information relied on by the Census Bureau to determine an applicant's criminal history were either "incomplete" or "under reported," making the findings inaccurate.
Of the $15 million settlement, $5 million of this would proceed to setting up a system that would notify potential applicants of upcoming hirings and rectify any errors in their criminal history records. Court papers indicate that the remaining amount would cover legal and administrative expenses, Global Post reported.
The settlement is hoped to open up more job opportunities to thousands of African-Americans and Latinos who were previously denied jobs in 2010.
Tuesday's agreement is filed with a federal court in Manhattan and is awaiting a judge's approval.
