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
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
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
On November 15, 2021, the city of Des Moines, Iowa, passed a “ban-the-box” law that will limit employer inquiries and background checks into an applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional offer of employment....more
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of their arrest and conviction records. Generally, an employer cannot make decisions on the basis...more
Q: Ban the Box has been around for several years now, and I know at least one city in Iowa implemented local regulations about background checks. What is the status in Iowa?...more
Employers in New York may be liable for the failure to hire a convicted murderer, a federal court judge in the state ruled, refusing to dismiss a proposed class action. Henry Franklin was convicted of second-degree murder...more
When Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 in December 2019, Congress included the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019 (the Act). The Act, in relevant part, restricts federal...more
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
Companies that hire employees and engage independent contractors in California should brace for a significant slowdown in background checks that include criminal record searches in California state courts....more
In July 2021, Maine enacted a new “ban-the-box” law that limits employer inquiries into an applicant’s criminal history. Under the new law, entitled “An Act Relating to Fair Chance in Employment,” employers are prohibited...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
Effective July 29, 2021, revisions to the New York City Fair Chance Act (FCA) will impose new requirements on New York City employers who evaluate criminal history information, including pending criminal charges, when making...more
The California Court of Appeal has ruled that date of birth and/or a driver’s license number cannot be used to identify individuals in an electronic search of the criminal index of court records. All of Us or None v....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
If the chaos of COVID wiped out all your memory regarding recent employment law changes, a short history lesson is probably in order. Nationally, a number of cities, states, counties, and municipalities decided to change...more
In the fall of 2019, the Waterloo, Iowa City Council approved the state’s first “Ban the Box” ordinance. Generally speaking, that ordinance made it illegal for any employer to ask about an applicant’s criminal history on a...more
Last month, the new chair of the EEOC, Charlotte A. Burrows, was the keynote speaker at a conference regarding new research on criminal recidivism....more
Illinois recently enacted SB 1480 (or “Law”) which, among other measures, effective immediately, places significant restrictions on the ability of Illinois employers to refuse to hire a job applicant or take adverse action...more
On January 10, 2021, Int. 1314-A (“Law”) was enacted, and it goes into effect on July 28, 2021. The Law significantly expands job applicants’ protections under New York City’s Fair Chance Act (“FCA”), otherwise known as the...more
The New York City Council has amended the Fair Chance Act (FCA) to expand employment protections for job applicants and employees with criminal conviction histories. The amendments became law on January 10, 2021, (upon being...more
In the last several years, a growing number of states and municipalities have passed “ban the box” laws that to varying degrees prohibit employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal background until later in the...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
According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, Black men in the U.S. are more likely to be arrested and have criminal convictions on their records than their white counterparts. Last week, a split Second Circuit Court of...more
Hawaii has long had a law limiting the discretion that employers have to consider older conviction records in making employment decisions. Effective September 15, 2020, SB 2193 prevents most private sector employers from...more