Vice President Kamala Harris made a campaign stop at a Pennsylvania Sheetz, a convenience store currently embroiled in a lawsuit by the Biden administration over alleged racial discrimination in its hiring practices.
Vice President Kamala Harris made a campaign stop in Pennsylvania over the weekend at a Sheetz convenience store that the Biden-Harris administration sued earlier this year for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices.
During her visit on Sunday, Harris, joined by her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, stopped by the Sheetz location in western Pennsylvania as part of their brief tour through the critical swing state ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The visit comes as the Biden administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is pursuing a lawsuit against Sheetz, accusing the chain of racial discrimination by using criminal background checks that disproportionately affect minority applicants.
Filed in April, the EEOC lawsuit claims that Sheetz's background check policies have led to higher rejection rates for Black, multiracial, and Native American applicants compared to white applicants. The suit, citing data from The Associated Press, alleges that Black applicants were denied employment 14.5% of the time, multiracial applicants 13%, and Native Americans 13%, while white applicants faced an 8% rejection rate. Sheetz has strongly denied the allegations, asserting that racial discrimination is unacceptable within its company.
Despite the ongoing legal case, Harris and Walz seemed at ease during their stop, browsing the store for snacks. Harris, who picked up a bag of Doritos, playfully echoed her well-known preference for the cheesy chips, a snack she famously turned to after Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, as shared in a past campaign email.
Both Sheetz and the Harris campaign have yet to comment on the convenience store visit or the ongoing lawsuit.
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