For years, Philadelphia has maintained ordinances substantially restricting employers’ use of criminal record and credit histories in employment screening. These regulations are in addition to, not in lieu of, the federal...more
1/27/2021
/ Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Screening Procedures
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), as amended in 2018, restricts a covered employer’s ability to make hiring decisions based on an individual’s criminal history, including but not limited to court records...more
10/8/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
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
9/17/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
On April 24, 2020, the Ninth Circuit held that the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) permits an employer to provide job applicants with a background check disclosure document at the same time the employer provides job...more
In Ramirez v. Trans Union, the Ninth Circuit addressed whether, at the class certification stage of a putative class case, only the named plaintiff or all class members must have Article III standing (i.e., a concrete injury...more
3/2/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Article III ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
With the start of a new year—and a new decade—employers in San Francisco, California, Waterloo, Iowa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, must follow new “ban-the-box” laws restricting their use of criminal records in hiring and...more
2/13/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
On December 20, 2020, the president signed legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, which includes the federal Fair Chance Act (“the Act”). The Act prohibits federal contractors that...more
12/27/2019
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation
Employers should continue to exercise caution and care in drafting their criminal record screening policies. A recent settlement by Dollar General underscores this point, even though it comes on the heels of the Fifth...more
11/4/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Ban the Box ,
Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Action ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Dollar General ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Multistate Corporations ,
Retailers ,
Settlement ,
Title VII
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
A federal court’s recent decision demonstrates the value in reviewing all documents related to the independent contractor background screening process to attempt to solidify potential defenses to expansive class-action...more
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
On September 10, 2018, in Long v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit joined the chorus of recent circuit court opinions tackling the question of...more
9/11/2018
/ Adverse Action ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
On September 6, 2018, in Auer v. Trans Union, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit joined the Seventh Circuit in holding that an individual plaintiff did not have constitutional standing to sue in federal...more
9/10/2018
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Credit Reports ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations ,
Wrongful Termination
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action lawsuits against employers are reaching epidemic proportions as class-wide settlements encourage more lawyers to move into this niche practice area....more
Nationwide class action claims against employers under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) are more common now than ever before. On July 13, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion,...more
7/19/2018
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Screening Procedures ,
Standing ,
State Farm
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
The FCRA is not a classic employment law, but regulates the procurement and use of background checks by employers. Before procuring a background check from a consumer reporting agency (CRA), the employer must disclose its...more
3/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Disney ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
GEICO ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Summary Judgment ,
Transfer of Venue ,
Willful Violations
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
The flurry of Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) class actions against employers started in or about 2012 and was not limited to California. Many of those lawsuits resulted in significant payouts for violations of one or more...more
10/20/2017
/ Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
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