The most anti-business administration ever

Despite all the hoopla about pretending to help the economy, an item in today’s Wall Street Journal reveals that Obama administration couldn’t possibly be more viciously and stridently anti-business. The federal government — in the form of the EEOC — is applying the  “disproportionate impact” rule to go after employers who run criminal background checks before hiring. The government claims that this will have a disproportionate impact on black applicants.

In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said two companies discount retailer Dollar General Corp. DG -1.12% and a U.S. unit of German auto maker BMW AG BMW.XE -1.75% generally barred potential employees based on the criminal checks, when they should have reviewed each applicant. The commission said the policies had the effect of discriminating against black applicants.

The suits underscore increasing government scrutiny of criminal and credit checks, which are widely used to screen job applicants. Some 92% of employers use criminal-background checks for some or all job openings, according to a 2010 survey by the Society of Human Resource Management.

It is important to note that none of this has anything to do with intentional discrimination. That is not even alleged, as it doesn’t need to be. All the government need do is show that more blacks have criminal records than whites, and VOILA! Using criminal background checks is presumed to be racial discrimination under the law.

Ms. Moore said rules concerning criminal-background checks are particularly important because blacks are convicted of crimes more often than whites. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, black men were incarcerated in 2010 at more than six times the rate of white men and nearly three times the rate of Hispanic men.

Mr. Lopez, the EEOC general counsel, said the Dollar General and BMW cases are “very serious systemic race discrimination cases.” At both companies, the EEOC cited statistical disparities in the hiring rates of blacks and nonblacks after the companies ran criminal-background checks.

The commission said Dollar General revoked conditional employment offers for 10% of its black applicants, but only 7% of its nonblack applicants, between January 2004 and April 2007. With more than 344,000 applicants involved, the numbers created an improper “gross disparity” based on race, the commission said. The company has more than 90,000 employees.

Not only is the disproportionate impact standard inherently tyrannical, but it would be hard to come up with a better way to wreck the economy. Imagine for a moment a landlord who refused to rent to people who cannot afford the rent. If it would be shown that more blacks than white could not afford the rent, then by the same logic the landlord would be discriminating. Ditto for an employer requiring literacy and numeracy. This is not merely crazy, it is downright evil.

And if if we assume the government’s position is correct, that blacks are disproportionately impacted by criminal record checks because a higher percentage of blacks have criminal records, what are the logical implications? Obviously, that more blacks have criminal records because the criminal justice system is racist. OK, if that is true, how is it possibly the fault of an employer?

Is it fair to charge the employer with ultimately being responsible for — and having to redress in his workplace — the shortcomings of the criminal justice system?

It is not fair, nor is it meant to be fair. It is simply anti-business. I suspect that’s the whole idea.

Grow the economy and create jobs?

Give me a break.