For many years, California employers have been subject to the state’s Fair Chance Act, which (in a nutshell) requires employers to...more
8/23/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Background Checks ,
California ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employees ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: Each year, employers revisit and possibly modify their background screening policies and practices to account for newly enacted ban-the-box and other laws impacting background screening. Last year, we saw...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 16, 2021, Louisiana joined the growing list of states and localities with so-called “Fair Chance” laws by enacting its own law restricting an employer’s consideration of criminal history in hiring...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 18, 2021, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a portion of the Waterloo, Iowa ban-the-box law’s restrictions on “when” employers can inquire about criminal history, but struck down restrictions on “what”...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Illinois currently has a ban-the-box law restricting employers from asking about criminal history generally until after an interview and the state’s Human Rights Act makes it unlawful for an employer to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 20, 2021, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed three bills amending the city’s ordinances regulating employer use of criminal and credit history in employment screening. All employers with...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 15, 2020, Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige signed Senate Bill 051, which narrows the scope of convictions that employers can use for hiring and other employment-related decisions. The new law is...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 24, 2020, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a final rule that codifies the FDIC’s Statement of Policy (SOP) related to Section 19 and makes several important changes to the SOP. The...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
4/10/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is accepting comments until March 16, 2020 on the proposed codification to the Statement of Policy for Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as well as...more
2/20/2020
/ Affiliates ,
Comment Period ,
Controlling Person ,
Criminal Records ,
FDI Act ,
FDIC ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Money Laundering ,
Policy Statement ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Written Consent
On January 21, 2020, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed the Fair Chance Housing Ordinance (“FCHO”), which will restrict landlords in their ability to reject a potential tenant because of prior criminal history. It...more
2/11/2020
/ Adverse Action ,
City Councils ,
Class Action ,
Conditional Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Discrimination ,
Drug Distribution ,
Housing Market ,
Landlords ,
Local Ordinance ,
Municipalities ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Rental Applications ,
Rental Property ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Offenders ,
State and Local Government ,
Tenants
Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 30, 2020, the Maryland General Assembly voted to override Governor Larry Hogan’s May 2019 veto of the Act Concerning Record Screening Practices (Ban the Box) (the “Act”). As a result, effective...more
2/7/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
General Assembly ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Seyfarth Synopsis: St. Louis has become the third locality in Missouri to enact a “Ban the Box” law, joining Kansas City and Columbia. With a January 1, 2021 effective date, covered employers should begin taking steps to...more
2/4/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 17, 2019, Congress passed "The Fair Chance To Compete for Jobs Act of 2019" (the “Act”) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. ...more
1/28/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Defense Contracts ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Regulatory Requirements
Seyfarth Synopsis: Waterloo, Iowa has enacted the state’s first “Ban the Box” Ordinance.
UPDATE: The Iowa Association of Business and Industry has filed a lawsuit against the City of Waterloo and the Waterloo Commission on...more
1/24/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Covered Employer ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Multistate Corporations ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government
Seyfarth Synopsis: Waterloo, Iowa has enacted the state’s first “Ban the Box” Ordinance....more
11/27/2019
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
State Labor Laws
Seyfarth Synopsis: On August 3, 2018, the FDIC published its final rule on modifications to the Statement of Policy for Section 19 in an attempt to reduce the number of low risk criminal offenses that result in preclusion of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On May 4, 2017, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, held that the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”) prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of criminal conviction history....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Fair Employment and Housing Council (“FEHC”) has approved new regulations, effective July 1, 2017, to limit employers’ use of criminal history when making employment decisions....more
On June 27, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed a victory to the State of Texas in Texas v. EEOC , No. 14-10949 (5th Cir. June 27, 2016), by remanding back to the district court the case it dismissed...more
6/29/2016
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Disparate Impact ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Guidance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Imminent Harm ,
Legitimate State Interest ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Standing ,
Title VII
Today, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (“NYCCHR”), held a public hearing on the proposed amendments to the Fair Chance Act (“FCA”), which prohibits unlawful discrimination on the basis of criminal history against...more
Given the imminent effective date of New York City’s Fair Chance Act, employers may be wondering what they need to do to comply with the law. As many employers are aware, effective October 27, 2015, the Fair Chance Act...more
10/26/2015
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Background Checks ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Credit Discrimination ,
Credit Reports ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Exceptions ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
NYCCHR ,
NYCHRL ,
SCDEA
On June 10, 2015, the New York City Council voted to prohibit private employers from asking job applicants questions about criminal convictions on job applications. Under the Fair Chance Act (the “Act”) an employer may ask...more