The Census Bureau's practice of rejecting applications from applicants who have even one arrest on their record, is coming under fire in the form of a racial discrimination class-action lawsuit.  The agency is being accused of using an applicant screening process that promotes racial discrimination.

Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wrote a letter to the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department stating that rejecting applicants on the basis of a single arrest was not right.  The Commerce Department and the Census Bureau have not yet responded to the lawsuit.  The Justice Department wants the lawsuit dismissed. 

According to the lawsuit, the law is quite clear that no person shall be discriminated against during hiring only on the basis of an arrest, unless there are pending charges.  But when the agency uses these discriminatory practices, it promotes discrimination on the basis of race, because certain ethnicities like African-Americans, are much more likely to be arrested even for minor offenses, than other racial groups. 

That means that when a person has an arrest on his record, even for the most minor offense, and with no criminal charges or convictions resulting, he would still be rejected if he applied for employment at the Census Bureau.  According to lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the class-action, practices that prevent applicants with an arrest record from being employed, take the same discrimination on the basis of race that exists in the criminal justice system, and transfer it to the employment process. 

According to figures by the Justice Department, 13% of black youths are involved in selling drugs, compared to 17% of whites.  However in 2003, African Americans were arrested for drug violations at rates that were almost twice that for whites.

California employment lawyers believe that policies like the Census Bureau's ensure that the racial discrimination that plagues African-Americans, will follow them even as they seek to find jobs at the agency.