On August 6, 2019, in Texas v. EEOC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dealt the EEOC a significant setback, largely affirming the district court’s decision that the EEOC violated the federal Administrative...more
8/7/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctions ,
Job Applicants ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
Almost two years ago to the day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the first appellate court to rule on the lawfulness of a liability waiver in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) disclosure. ...more
Employers that use criminal record-screening policies must continue to be vigilant about compliance with all applicable laws and should know that the EEOC’s scrutiny of such policies, while perhaps scaled back, has not ended....more
10/2/2018
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Screening Procedures ,
Title VII
Employers that use criminal record screening policies must continue to be vigilant about compliance with all applicable laws. Following a multi-million dollar settlement by a leading retailer earlier this year, a recent...more
9/17/2018
/ Ban the Box ,
Class Action ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Multi-Jurisdictional Litigation ,
Screening Procedures ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Violations
In 2010, Massachusetts enacted the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform Act, which includes a “ban-the-box” component. Among other things, the law prohibits an employer from requiring an applicant to check a...more
Employers that use criminal record screening policies must continue to be vigilant about compliance with all applicable laws. A recent settlement by one of the nation’s leading retailers, Target, reinforces this point. The...more
4/9/2018
/ Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Action ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retailers ,
Screening Procedures ,
Target ,
Title VII
In 2014, San Francisco enacted its ban-the-box law, which significantly restricted the ability of employers to inquire into, and use, criminal records for hiring and other employment purposes....more
3/30/2018
/ Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Proposed Amendments ,
San Francisco ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
On February 1, 2018, a federal judge enjoined the EEOC and U.S. Attorney General from enforcing against the State of Texas the EEOC’s 2012 Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in...more
2/6/2018
/ Attorney General ,
Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
Over the past few years, employers have come to expect new ban-the-box laws, and 2018 is no exception: one state law was amended and one new local law was enacted. ...more
In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued updated “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of...more
12/22/2017
/ Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discovery ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dollar General ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retailers ,
State and Local Government ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Title VII
On October 14, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1008, which will add a section to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) containing new state-wide restrictions on an employer’s ability to make...more
In February 2017, five California assembly members introduced Assembly Bill 1008, which proposes to add a section to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) containing new state-wide restrictions on an...more
The filing of a new discrimination lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) answers the question whether, after five years of intensive scrutiny, employers can breathe a sigh of relief in terms of...more
7/18/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Slurs ,
Title VII
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin recently held that an employer potentially violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when it provided the employee with three days to dispute information...more
7/3/2017
/ Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
USPS
On May 4, 2017, the New York Court of Appeals answered who may be liable under the state’s fair employment law for discrimination based on an individual’s conviction record. The opinion in Griffin v. Sirva, Inc. is...more
Employers operating in Massachusetts are already aware of the Commonwealth’s Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) law. CORI refers to the database of criminal information maintained by the Department of Criminal...more
In the next week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to sign the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring (Initiative), which will prohibit most private sector employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal...more
12/12/2016
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fines ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Penalties ,
Posting Requirements ,
Record Retention ,
Title VII
As previously reported, on August 11, 2014, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed “The Opportunity to Compete Act” – New Jersey’s so-called “ban-the-box” law – which restricts the ability of covered employers to inquire...more
On November 5, 2015, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) released its 13-page Interpretative Enforcement Guidance regarding the City's Fair Chance Act (FCA). The FCA, which became effective on October 27,...more
After several high-profile setbacks in disparate impact discrimination lawsuits challenging criminal record screening policies, the EEOC has entered into a settlement (consent decree) in one of its few remaining cases, a...more
9/23/2015
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
BMW ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Consent Decrees ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Race Discrimination ,
Settlement ,
Title VII
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), background screening companies (or consumer reporting agencies) are generally prohibited from reporting certain types of derogatory information that the FCRA considers to be...more
Following closely on the heels of a citywide bill restricting employer’s use of credit information for employment decisions, on June 10, 2015, the New York City Council passed a new bill restricting an employer’s ability to...more
In recent years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has aggressively sought to enforce its April 2012 enforcement guidance concerning how, in the EEOC’s view, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 restricts an...more
5/14/2015
/ Ban the Box ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Credit History ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Dollar General ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Title VII ,
Wrongful Termination
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of employment-related criminal background checks in the United States has been written, and one of the authors had some particularly strong words for the Equal Employment Opportunity...more
Starting on August 13, 2014, employers doing business in the City of San Francisco, California have had to comply with sweeping amendments to San Francisco Police Code, Article 49, and Administrative Code, Article 12 ("the...more