Walmart Ordered to Produce Background Check Data in Bias Suit

Walmart Inc. must produce data about prospective employees who were subjected to heightened background checks in a proposed class action lawsuit alleging its screening of applicants discriminates against Black and Latino workers.

While plaintiffs Jacqueline Ramos and Edwin Johnson were only submitted to the base background check and not the heightened one, the data is relevant to Walmart’s criminal background check policy as a whole, and could help plaintiffs establish their proposed class, Special Master Freda L. Wolfson ruled Tuesday.

Walmart offered Ramons a job in an entry-level IT support position but rescinded it because she’d previously accepted a plea ...