Starting after Labor Day, employers with jobs located in the unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles, including work-from-home and hybrid positions, must comply with the County’s fair chance hiring ordinance. The...more
9/3/2024
/ Background Checks ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Local Ordinance ,
New Regulations
The Lehigh County Human Relations Ordinance was enacted February 26, 2024, establishing county-specific non-discrimination requirements for employment, housing, education, health care and public accommodations. The ordinance...more
5/2/2024
/ Criminal Records ,
Deadlines ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Pennsylvania ,
Race Discrimination ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination
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
3/13/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Ban the Box ,
California ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Screening Procedures ,
Undue Burden
Pennsylvania and Philadelphia recently enacted changes that impact employer criminal background screening. ...more
1/5/2024
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
New Legislation ,
Pennsylvania ,
State Labor Laws
Effective December 15, 2022, the city of Gainesville became the first jurisdiction in Florida to restrict the use of pre-employment inquiries into an applicant’s criminal history.1 The City has now joined the dozens of other...more
The City Council of Atlanta, Georgia recently passed an ordinance that amends its existing anti-discrimination law to include protection on the basis of “criminal history status” as well as “gender expression.” The ordinance...more
A May 2021 court decision in California, All of Us or None v. Hamrick, caused significant background check delays in some California county courts and left background check companies unable to report some criminal record...more
On April 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit in holding that a plaintiff lacked Article III standing to prosecute her statutory claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)...more
4/6/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Putative Class Actions ,
SCOTUS ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
Staffing companies and employers using all tools at their disposal to recruit workers may face increased risk following the Ninth Circuit’s recent opinion in Loyhayem v. Fraser Financial. In Loyhayem, the court found that...more
On April 22, 2021, the Philadelphia City Council passed a new ordinance prohibiting employers from conducting pre-hire marijuana testing, which Mayor Jim Kenney signed into law on April 28, 2021....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
1/27/2021
/ Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Screening Procedures
On July 2, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Rizo v. Yovino. The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires “equal pay for equal work regardless of sex,” subject to four exceptions. ...more
7/10/2020
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deceased ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Judge Reinhardt ,
Judicial Review ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Yovino v Rizo
The United States Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit has issued its decision upholding the Philadelphia Wage Equity Ordinance, one of the so-called “salary history ban” laws....more
2/20/2020
/ Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salaried Employees ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
Last year, the City of Columbia, South Carolina enacted an ordinance that appeared to require substantial changes to private employers’ criminal record and salary history inquiry practices. At the time of enactment, the...more
2/10/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Salaried Employees ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government
Columbia, South Carolina passed an ordinance effective August 6, 2019, limiting employers’ use of criminal background checks and banning employers from inquiring about salary history on job applications. ...more
10/4/2019
/ Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
Continuing the recent deluge of salary history ban laws, on July 25, 2019, New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver signed Bill A1094 into law. Like other recent laws limiting salary history inquiries, New Jersey’s law...more
7/29/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
A federal court’s recent decision demonstrates the value in reviewing all documents related to the independent contractor background screening process to attempt to solidify potential defenses to expansive class-action...more
On September 10, 2018, in Long v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit joined the chorus of recent circuit court opinions tackling the question of...more
9/11/2018
/ Adverse Action ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action lawsuits against employers are reaching epidemic proportions as class-wide settlements encourage more lawyers to move into this niche practice area....more
On July 5, 2018, Governor David Y. Ige signed Senate Bill 2351 into law, adding Hawaii to the list of jurisdictions generally prohibiting employers from asking applicants about their prior compensation history....more
7/6/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On February 1, 2018, the Kansas City, Missouri City Council passed restrictions on employers’ inquiries into, and use of, criminal record information. The ordinance becomes effective on June 9, 2018. The City had already...more
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations has adopted regulations interpreting portions of a City ordinance, which if upheld, would prohibit employers from seeking applicants’ wage and benefits history. ...more
On June 7, 2016, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed a bill to make it unlawful, with limited exceptions, for employers to procure or use an applicant’s or employee’s credit history for employment purposes. Philadelphia...more
On March 14, 2016, Philadelphia’s so-called “ban the box” law, the Philadelphia Fair Criminal Records Screening Ordinance, became effective. With it came the release of a mandatory new poster restating the major elements of...more
On December 30, 2015, the Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania unanimously found the Older Adults Protective Services Act’s (the Act) lifetime prohibition on the ability of individuals with convictions to hold certain jobs in...more