In a suit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Fresh Direct is accused of categorically excluding from employment workers with certain types of criminal records, in violation of New York laws barring race and other discrimination. The lawsuit states that Fresh Direct LLC and Fresh Direct Inc. fail to consider New York state and city human rights laws that require employers to consider eight factors laid out in the state’s corrections law before refusing to hire a job applicant or firing a worker with a past criminal conviction. According to Seth Kaufman, an employment attorney with Fisher & Phillips LLP, New York, employers are required to conduct an individualized analysis related to each job candidate with a criminal history, rather than apply a broad corporate policy that automatically excludes any candidates who have been convicted of particular offenses.
