During the 2019 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed a new bill called “Criminal Record Screening Practices (Ban the Box),” which prohibited certain employers from inquiring about an applicant’s “criminal record.” Following the close of the legislative session, Governor Larry Hogan vetoed the bill.

Now, in the 2020 session, the Maryland General Assembly has overridden the veto and the initial bill will go into effect. The law applies to employers with 15 or more full-time employees and bans employers from requiring an applicant to disclose a criminal record at any time prior to the first in-person interview. A “criminal record” is defined as (1) an arrest; (2) a plea or verdict of guilty; (3) a plea of nolo contendere; (4) the marking of a charge “stet” on a docket; (4) the disposition of probation before judgment; or (5) the disposition of not criminally responsible. The law does not apply to employers that work with minors or vulnerable adults, or that are required by law to seek criminal history information from applicants.

The law expressly does not supersede local laws that impose greater restrictions on employers (currently Baltimore City, Montgomery County, and Prince George’s County).

The initial bill had an effective date of February 29, 2020, so eligible employers must begin complying with the legislation immediately. Specifically, employers should review their hiring processes to ensure that all requests for information related to criminal history is removed from application materials.

Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.

[View source.]