Victor Guerrero v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Along with NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund and the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, NELP recently submitted an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit in the case of Guerrero v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In the brief, amici explain that the district court was correct to defer to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) 2012 guidance on the proper use of conviction records by employers. That detailed fifty-two page guidance was the product of a lengthy, thorough drafting process, accurately interprets Title VII and precedent, and does not significantly depart from prior EEOC guidance on the issue. Guerrero was denied employment with the California CDCR after he admitted that he had used an invalid social security number before securing legal immigration status several years earlier. Following a bench trial, the district court ruled that CDCR had improperly rejected Guerrero without first considering his individual circumstances, as required by the EEOC guidance.

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