https://www.cleveland.com/business/2024/04/feds-sue-popular-convenience-store-charging-racial-discrimination-in-hiring-practices.html

Feds sue popular convenience store, charging racial discrimination in hiring practices

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Federal officials have sued the Sheetz convenience store chain, claiming the company discriminated against job applicants who were Black, Native American and multiracial.

The discrimination occurred, the federal government said, as the company automatically eliminated job applicants that Sheetz deemed to have failed a criminal background check.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit in Baltimore against the company and two subsidiaries, charging that the convenience store and gas station chain’s practices have a disproportionate impact on minority applicants and thus run afoul of federal civil rights law.

Sheetz on Thursday denied the charges.

“Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are,” company spokesperson Nick Ruffner said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We take these allegations seriously. We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute,”