The Risks in Background Checks
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Ban the Box and Fair Chance Hiring Laws: The Year in Review
#WorkforceWednesday: COVID-19 Restrictions Tighten, NYC Fair Chance Act, Biden's Budget - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law Now III-50 - A 50th Birthday Celebration Episode
Following the lead of other California cities and counties, the County of San Diego recently passed a local fair chance ordinance restricting the use of criminal history in employment decisions. Effective October 10,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Since 2018, California has had a comprehensive Fair Chance Act (CFCA), which places a number of restrictions on employers using criminal history for hiring and other employment purposes. San Francisco and...more
General Overview of the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance -California has long been at the forefront of promoting equal employment opportunity for individuals with criminal histories. Statewide laws such as the Fair...more
California state law already saddles private sector employers with significant obligations to job applicants with a criminal record. Various local laws layer on top of these obligations to make compliance even more...more
A growing number of states and municipalities have passed “fair chance” laws that, to varying degrees, prohibit employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal background during the hiring process or restrict...more
What is this about? On February 27, 2024, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the County’s Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers (FCO). The FCO aligns with the California Fair Chance Act (FCA),...more
Employers with operations in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, must comply with a new and expansive anti-discrimination ordinance that took effect June 1. Our FP attorneys developed this series of FAQs to address all employment...more
Since California’s enactment of the Fair Chance Act (“Act”) over six years ago, California’s private and county employers with five or more employees have become well-acquainted with the Act’s general prohibition of employers...more
In 2016, the City of Los Angeles enacted a detailed fair chance hiring ordinance. A comprehensive statewide law followed in 2017. Soon, employers with jobs located in the unincorporated areas of the County of Los...more
Pennsylvania and Philadelphia recently enacted changes that impact employer criminal background screening. ...more
The City of Chicago recently amended two existing ordinances to provide greater protections for employees in the areas of bodily autonomy and criminal conviction histories. Both the Bodily Autonomy for All Ordinance and the...more
For nearly a decade, Chicago has maintained a “ban-the-box” ordinance restricting employer’s use of criminal records in employment screening. This ordinance largely mirrored the requirements of Illinois’ state-wide Job...more
On November 15, 2021, the city of Des Moines, Iowa, passed a “ban-the-box” law that will limit employer inquiries and background checks into an applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional offer of employment....more
The New York City Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”) has issued updated legal enforcement guidance on the NYC Fair Chance Act (“FCA”) and employers’ consideration of criminal history in hiring and during...more
On July 15, 2021, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the “NYCCHR” or “Commission”) issued its highly anticipated updated Legal Enforcement Guidance on the Fair Chance Act and Employment Discrimination. ...more
In the fall of 2019, the Waterloo, Iowa City Council approved the state’s first “Ban the Box” ordinance. Generally speaking, that ordinance made it illegal for any employer to ask about an applicant’s criminal history on a...more
For years, Philadelphia has maintained ordinances substantially restricting employers’ use of criminal record and credit histories in employment screening. These regulations are in addition to, not in lieu of, the federal...more
On December 10, 2020, the New York City Council passed bill Int. 1314-A, which significantly expands the scope of New York City’s “ban-the-box” law, the New York City Fair Chance Act (FCA). The bill would impose significant...more
On November 20, 2020, the Montgomery County, Maryland Council approved amendments to its 2014 “ban-the-box” legislation. The original legislation (Bill 36-14) prohibited employers with 15 or more full-time employees in...more
In the last several years, a growing number of states and municipalities have passed “ban the box” laws that to varying degrees prohibit employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal background until later in the...more
On April 27, 2020, the Suffolk County Legislature filed with the Secretary of State an amendment to the county’s Human Rights Code to include a new “Fair Employment Screening” section. ...more
Suffolk County, New York will soon follow other state and local governments that have enacted “ban the box” legislation focusing on an applicant’s qualifications for a position prior to considering the applicant’s possible...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Waterloo, Iowa has enacted the state’s first “Ban the Box” Ordinance. UPDATE #2: On April 3, 2020, the lawsuit brought by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (the “Association”) against the...more
With the start of a new year—and a new decade—employers in San Francisco, California, Waterloo, Iowa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, must follow new “ban-the-box” laws restricting their use of criminal records in hiring and...more
The City of St. Louis Board of Alderman unanimously passed “ban the box” legislation prohibiting employers in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, from basing job hiring or promotion decisions on applicants’ criminal histories....more