The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can be required to state its internal policies on and justifications for considering arrest and credit records in hiring; and certain EEOC adjudicative procedures used during the “credentialing and suitability decision making process,” a federal court in Maryland rules, denying the agency’s request for a protective order.

The case involves a discrimination complaint brought by the EEOC against an employer alleging that the employer engaged in an ongoing pattern and practice of unlawful discrimination against African-American, Hispanic, and male job applicants by examining their criminal and credit histories when considering whether to employ them. The employer in turn questioned how the EEOC used such records in its own internal hiring. Although the EEOC argued that the inquiry into its hiring practices was not relevant to the charge brought against the employer, the court decides that if the EEOC uses hiring practices similar to those used by employer, “this fact may show the appropriateness of those practices, particularly because [EEOC] is the agency fighting unfair hiring practices.” EEOC v. Freeman