A coalition of civil rights organizations filed a class action lawsuit against the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau's parent agency, citing the EEOC's warning along with other newly uncovered evidence in a case which seeks compensation for more than 100,000 minorities who were not selected for census work because of unprosecuted arrests and old, minor, and irrelevant convictions for offenses such as unlawful assembly and loitering.

The lawsuit alleges that the Census Bureau illegally screened out applicants with often decades-old arrest records for minor or un-convicted offenses that typically would not have deterred other employers including other federal agencies with high security concerns such as the Transportation Security Administration.

More information can be found at www.censusdiscriminationlawsuit.com.