Judge refuses to dismiss suit against BMW

A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit against BMW Manufacturing Co. alleging the company’s criminal background check guidelines used to screen applicants for access to its Greer manufacturing facility had a disparate impact on black candidates.

Senior U.S. District Judge Henry M. Herlong Jr. denied BMW’s motion for summary judgment in the suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Herlong also denied the EEOC’s motion for partial summary judgment. Further, he denied motions by BMW and the EEOC to exclude reports and testimony from the EEOC’s statistical expert on disparate impact and BMW’s expert on job-relatedness and business necessity.

The judge’s rulings are a prelude to a possible bench trial. Herlong hasn’t set a specific date but indicated a trial won’t be held before Sept. 29, court records show.

“We are disappointed in the denial of summary judgment, but we are ready and prepared to go to trial,” BMW officials said in a statement Monday. “BMW has stated throughout the proceedings that our employment policy complies with the letter and spirit of the law and is consistently applied to applicants of all races. Our business, our company culture, and our employment policies are race-neutral as evidenced by BMW’s highly diverse workforce and customers.”

The case stemmed from BMW’s contract with Management Analysis and Utilization Inc. to replace another logistics provider at the Greer plant, with MAU screening and employing logistics workers who began work in July 2008. MAU, which isn’t a defendant in the case, declined comment.

EEOC officials couldn’t be reached.

BMW’s agreement with MAU required that each applicant with MAU undergo a criminal background check, according to court filings. In June and July 2008, MAU informed BMW that some employees of the previous logistics provider and some temporary staffing agency employees didn’t meet the criteria of BMW’s criminal background check guidelines.

BMW then revoked site access at the plant for 58 individuals in June 2008 and another 42 three weeks later.

The EEOC complaint, filed in 2013, alleged that BMW’s criminal conviction background check policy constituted an unlawful employment practice that violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because BMW’s policy has a “significant disparate impact” on black employees and applicants and “is not job related and consistent with business necessity.”

BMW denied the allegations.

When it was filed in federal court, the suit against BMW sought back pay and other relief for 69 blacks, six of whom filed charges with the EEOC, according to agency officials and court records. The remaining 63 were identified class members, EEOC officials said.

In his opinion and order, Herlong rejected BMW’s argument that public policy requires criminal background checks and supported granting summary judgment. He found that argument insufficient, Herlong said.