AGG Talks: Background Screening - Ban the Box and Fair Chance Hiring Laws: The Year in Review
Expungements: A Helping Hand for a Second Chance and New Opportunities
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts Update, Breaking News from California
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts in Michigan and California Pose Challenges for Background Checks
[WEBINAR] Exploring the CPRA’s Investigatory Privilege
Devil in the Details: Gilbert King on Truth and Transparency in the Judicial Process
How to Conduct Criminal Background Checks the Right Way
In recent years, advocates and lawmakers have been pushing to expand the reach of “ban-the-box” measures designed to remove job barriers for individuals with criminal convictions....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
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
A large convenience store chain recently learned about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s intention to challenge how employers use arrest and conviction records to make hiring decisions....more
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
The County of Los Angeles has announced a new Fair Chance Ordinance, taking effect on September 3, 2024, that will regulate the consideration of criminal history information by employers with five or more employees in...more
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently passed the Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers (“Ordinance”), L.A. Cnty. Code § 8.300 et seq., in an effort to ensure “individuals with criminal records have fair and...more
At the end of February, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance adding several compliance requirements to the California Fair Chance Act requirements for employers considering the criminal history of...more
In December 2023, the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit under the California Fair Chance Act (“Act”) against Ralphs Grocery Store (“Ralphs”) in the Los Angeles County Superior...more
New York has enacted the Clean Slate Act, effective November 16, 2024, which will provide for the automatic sealing of certain criminal history records. Upon sealing, the records will be unavailable to most employers in a...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On November 16, 2023, New York became the 12th state to enact “Clean Slate” legislation, which allows certain criminal records to be sealed after an individual is sentenced or released from incarceration,...more
On Nov. 16, 2023, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation, also known as the Clean Slate Act, to automatically seal from public access criminal records for most individuals convicted of a crime....more
The California Civil Rights Council (CRD) (formerly the DFEH) has issued new regulations that modify the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the law that governs how and when California employers can consider a job...more
After more than a year of administrative activity pertaining to California’s Fair Chance Act (FCA), the California Civil Rights Council issued final modifications to the FCA’s regulations (the “Revised Regulations”). The...more
The California Office of Administrative Law approved the Civil Rights Council’s proposed amendments to regulations regarding consideration of criminal history in employment. Effective October 1, 2023, employers must comply...more
California’s Civil Rights Council (the Council), a branch of the California Civil Rights Department, issued proposed revisions, earlier this year, to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) regulations governing an...more
In the final hours of the 2023 legislative session, the New York Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1029C / Senate Bill 7551A, the “Clean Slate Act.” If signed by Governor Hochul, it will provide for the automatic sealing of...more
Chicago has amended its “Ban the Box” Ordinance (the “Ordinance”) to further align with Illinois law. The Ordinance, which originally took effect in 2015, provides protections for both prospective and current employees....more
On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed into law H.R. 7776, the “James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023” (the “NDAA 2023”). What many may not yet realize is that Section 5705 of the NDAA...more
On Jan. 12, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey held in Ramos v. WalMart, Inc. that Pennsylvania plaintiffs have up to six years to file claims against employers for improper use of criminal history...more
On June 10, 2021, Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Connecticut’s “Clean Slate” law, Public Act No. 21-32. The Clean Slate law became effective January 1, 2023, and it provides for the automatic erasure of certain criminal...more
Beginning July 1, 2023, SB 731 will provide for the automatic sealing of certain felony criminal records. Arrests that do not result in conviction will also be sealed....more
When Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 this Election Day to legalize personal use of marijuana by adults 21 and older, employers were sure to have questions. Besides legalizing the recreational use of marijuana (also...more
California recently passed Senate Bill 731 (“SB 731”) into law which significantly expands the automatic sealing eligibility of most felonies that occurred on or after January 1, 2005, if certain circumstances are met. This...more