Arnall Golden Gregory LLP is pleased to provide you with the Compliance News Flash, which includes current news briefs relevant to background screening, immigration and data privacy, for the benefit and interest of our clients as well as employers and consumer reporting agencies generally.

• E-Verify, the electronic employment eligibility verification program maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is still down due to the partial government shutdown. Some important reminders for employers during this shutdown (which may last a while). First, employers still have a legal obligation to complete the employment eligibility verification form (the “Form I-9”) for all new hires. Second, the “three-day rule” for E-Verify is suspended (but not for the Form I-9). Third, participating employers should track all employees hired during the time when E-Verify is offline so as to create cases in the system once it is back online. Fourth, any cases with a Tentative Non-confirmation (TNC) which occurred immediately prior to the system going offline, and which are pending, must be held open and no adverse action can be taken against those employees. To read more click here.
• The California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) will hold six public forums on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The public will have the opportunity to provide input on CCPA regulations, which the California Attorney General must adopt on or before July 1, 2020. The CA DOJ will consider any comments made at the public forums or submitted electronically or by mail. For the list of dates, click here. Quick refresher, the CCPA is California’s privacy law related to the collection and use of consumer personal data and requirements on businesses. It is the same law that’s being compared to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Note too that the CCPA was amended last year. Effective date is 2020. 
• Massachusetts updated its ban the box law, which prohibits employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal record on an employment application. In April, Governor Charlie Baker signed the Act Relative to Criminal Justice Reform, which took effect on October 13th. Under the new Ban the Box updates, employers may not ask about misdemeanors in which the conviction or incarceration was completed more than three years prior, a reduction from the previous five-year disclosure period. Employers are also now prohibited from asking about a criminal record that has been sealed or expunged. When employers do request criminal record information from applicants, the employers must use the following language: 

An applicant for employment with a record expunged pursuant to section 100F, section 100G, section 100H or section 100K of chapter 276 may answer ‘no record’ with respect to an inquiry herein relative to prior arrests, criminal court appearances or convictions. An applicant for employment with a record expunged pursuant to section 100F, section 100G, section 100H or section 100K of chapter 276 may answer ‘no record’ to an inquiry herein relative to prior arrests, criminal court appearances, juvenile court appearances, adjudications or convictions.

• As a reminder, Connecticut employers are prohibited from asking job applicants about their salary history, as of the first of this year. Governor Dannel Malloy signed a bill amending the Act Concerning Pay Equity, which prohibits employers from inquiring about compensation history but does not prohibit applicants from voluntarily disclosing it. Note that employers also cannot direct a third-party to inquire about a prospective employee’s wage and salary history unless the prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed such information or the inquiry is required by law.

• Joining Connecticut in banning salary history inquiries, Suffolk County, New York passed the Restricting Information on Salaries and Earnings Act, which prohibits employers (and agents) from asking potential employees about their salary history during the hiring process. The law takes effect June 30, 2019 and includes asking the applicant orally or in writing, as well as searching publicly available records.