Current Cases

Case Introduction Over the past two years, the United States Census Bureau (“Census”) has engaged in the temporary hiring of over one million temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census in a manner which has discriminated against over one hundred thousand African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit on April 13, 2010 to challenge this discriminatory practice, and amended their Complaint on August 5, 2010. All applicants for the 2010 Census with an arrest record for any offense at any point in their lives – no matter how trivial or disconnected...

Case Introduction On October 30, 2015, Outten & Golden LLP filed a nationwide class action against The Geo Group, Inc. (“Geo Group”), and Accurate Background, Inc., on behalf of plaintiff Eric Keels and all similarly situated applicants for employment with Geo Group. The lawsuit alleges that Geo Group and Accurate Background, Inc. systematically violated federal law in the way they conducted criminal background checks of Geo Group job applicants. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that, before denying or revoking a job offer based on background check results, employers must...

On May 15, 2017, Outten & Golden, LLP filed an Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (“EEOC”) charge on behalf of The Fortune Society (“Fortune”) against Macy’s, Inc. alleging that that the retailer’s criminal background check policies and practices used to screen job applicants results in discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq . Macy’s, Inc. owns and operates hundreds of stores under the names of Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Bloomingdale’s Outlet, Macy’s Backstage, and Bluemercury (collectively “Macy’s”). Fortune contends that...

On August 14, 2008, Outten & Golden’s client filed a class-wide race discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Madison Square Garden alleging that MSG discriminates against African-American job applicants by illegally using criminal history reports in making hiring decisions. The charge alleges that, by revoking an offer of employment to Outten & Golden’s client, MSG violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and engaged in a policy or pattern and practice of discrimination against African-American job applicants. A corporate policy that...

On August 15, 2018, Outten & Golden filed suit against NTT Data, Inc., one of the largest information technology services providers in the world. The suit challenges NTT’s blanket rejection of job applicants with criminal records, even where their criminal history has no bearing on an ability to perform the work in question. Plaintiffs bring class claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, challenging the disproportionate impact of NTT’s background check policies and practices on African American applicants—and because NTT’s policies and practices import into the employment...

On April 5, 2018, Outten & Golden LLP along with our co-counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., filed a disparate impact class action lawsuit Target Corp. in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York. The case, Times v. Target Corp. , was brought by Plaintiffs Carnella Times and Erving Smith and an Organizational Plaintiff, The Fortune Society. The lawsuit alleges that Target violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by utilizing a job applicant screening process that systematically eliminated qualified African-Americans and Latinos from...