In 2014, San Francisco enacted its ban-the-box law, which significantly restricted the ability of employers to inquire into, and use, criminal records for hiring and other employment purposes....more
3/30/2018
/ Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Proposed Amendments ,
San Francisco ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
The FCRA is not a classic employment law, but regulates the procurement and use of background checks by employers. Before procuring a background check from a consumer reporting agency (CRA), the employer must disclose its...more
3/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Disney ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
GEICO ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Summary Judgment ,
Transfer of Venue ,
Willful Violations
On February 1, 2018, a federal judge enjoined the EEOC and U.S. Attorney General from enforcing against the State of Texas the EEOC’s 2012 Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in...more
2/6/2018
/ Attorney General ,
Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
Over the past few years, employers have come to expect new ban-the-box laws, and 2018 is no exception: one state law was amended and one new local law was enacted. ...more
In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued updated “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of...more
12/22/2017
/ Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discovery ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dollar General ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retailers ,
State and Local Government ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Title VII
The flurry of Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) class actions against employers started in or about 2012 and was not limited to California. Many of those lawsuits resulted in significant payouts for violations of one or more...more
10/20/2017
/ Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
On October 14, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1008, which will add a section to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) containing new state-wide restrictions on an employer’s ability to make...more
In February 2017, five California assembly members introduced Assembly Bill 1008, which proposes to add a section to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) containing new state-wide restrictions on an...more
On August 15, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued another opinion in the saga of Robins v. Spokeo, Inc.—a case dealing with the question of what violations of a federal statute are sufficient to...more
As Littler has reported, the number of class action lawsuits against employers alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has continued to spike. Most lawsuits proceed in federal court, but the FCRA allows...more
7/18/2017
/ Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Consumer Reports ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Notice Requirements
The filing of a new discrimination lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) answers the question whether, after five years of intensive scrutiny, employers can breathe a sigh of relief in terms of...more
7/18/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Slurs ,
Title VII
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin recently held that an employer potentially violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when it provided the employee with three days to dispute information...more
7/3/2017
/ Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
USPS
On May 4, 2017, the New York Court of Appeals answered who may be liable under the state’s fair employment law for discrimination based on an individual’s conviction record. The opinion in Griffin v. Sirva, Inc. is...more
On April 28, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a blog article entitled “Background checks on prospective employees: Keep required disclosures simple.” The FTC is one of the two federal agencies with oversight...more
Employers operating in Massachusetts are already aware of the Commonwealth’s Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) law. CORI refers to the database of criminal information maintained by the Department of Criminal...more
On January 20, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the first appellate court to rule on the lawfulness of a liability waiver in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) disclosure. In Syed v. M-I, the...more
In the next week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to sign the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring (Initiative), which will prohibit most private sector employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal...more
12/12/2016
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fines ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Penalties ,
Posting Requirements ,
Record Retention ,
Title VII
On May 16, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, a case raising the procedural question whether any and all violations of a federal statute are sufficient for a plaintiff to...more
5/17/2016
/ Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
On May 10, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a new publication related to background checks and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) titled What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the...more
As previously reported, on August 11, 2014, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed “The Opportunity to Compete Act” – New Jersey’s so-called “ban-the-box” law – which restricts the ability of covered employers to inquire...more
On November 5, 2015, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) released its 13-page Interpretative Enforcement Guidance regarding the City's Fair Chance Act (FCA). The FCA, which became effective on October 27,...more
After several high-profile setbacks in disparate impact discrimination lawsuits challenging criminal record screening policies, the EEOC has entered into a settlement (consent decree) in one of its few remaining cases, a...more
9/23/2015
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
BMW ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Consent Decrees ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Race Discrimination ,
Settlement ,
Title VII
As previously reported, on May 6, 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the "Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act" (Act), which makes it unlawful for most employers to use an applicant's or employee's credit...more
9/22/2015
/ Clearing Agencies ,
Credit Discrimination ,
Credit History ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exceptions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
National Security ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Security Clearance ,
Trade Secrets
The world of Big Data has arrived, and it is beginning to affect employers and their decision-making in ways undreamed of even a few years ago. Employers can access more information about their applicant pool than ever...more
8/5/2015
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Big Data ,
Class Action ,
Compliance ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
OFCCP ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Workplace Safety
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), background screening companies (or consumer reporting agencies) are generally prohibited from reporting certain types of derogatory information that the FCRA considers to be...more