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
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
When is an offense a covered “offense” under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act’s (WFEA) prohibition against arrest record discrimination? This was the question answered by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in its recent decision...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
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
Earlier this month, Governor Ned Lamont announced the long-awaited implementation of the state’s so-called “Clean Slate Act” – sort of. According to a recent press release, January 1, 2023 will see the full or partial...more
Every year, over 600,000 people leave state and federal prisons to return to their communities and the workforce. In spite of having done their time and putting in the effort to be a positive benefactor to society, so many...more
Over the last several years, federal and state governments have pushed employers to reemploy offenders, such as through tax incentives and subsidized training. Despite the public interest in such initiatives and programs, the...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
Although New York Governor Hochul’s first State of the State address focused on efforts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, she still managed to provide insight on a few key areas of labor and employment law that will...more
Wisconsin is one of a limited number of states that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of arrest or conviction records. The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) protects “properly qualified individuals” from...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
On June 9, 2021, the Louisiana State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) No. 707, a measure that prohibits discrimination in employment based on criminal history records and that provides criteria for employers making hiring...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
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
As we previously discussed, Illinois has moved beyond “ban-the-box” and now significantly restricts employers’ ability to consider criminal convictions when making employment decisions. (For more details see our employer’s...more
On March 23, 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law the Employee Background Fairness Act, which bans the use of criminal convictions in employment actions in Illinois, with limited exceptions....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 March 23, 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill (SB1480) that amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) to, among other things, impose new requirements on employers that perform criminal history checks on their...more