New York City Council Passes the First Citywide Bill Restricting Employers...
On April 16, 2015, the New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a bill to make it unlawful for most employers to use an applicant's or employee's credit history for employment purposes, except in...
View ArticleNew York City Council Bans the Box
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...
View ArticleOregon to Become the Latest State to Ban the Box
On June 16, 2015, the Oregon House passed an amended version of House Bill 3025, which will prohibit most employers from asking questions about criminal history on job applications or at any other...
View ArticleBackground Screening Companies May Now Report Convictions Older Than Seven...
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...
View ArticlePrivate-Sector Employers Doing Business with Local Governments may be Subject...
In 1998 Hawaii became the first state to pass a so-called "ban-the-box" law, prohibiting both private- and public-sector employers from inquiring about an applicant's conviction history until after the...
View ArticleState Appellate Court Considers Employer’s Duty to Conduct Criminal...
In the last few years, there has been a significant spike in the number of lawsuits challenging employer use of criminal background checks, including class action lawsuits brought under the federal...
View ArticleNYC Commission Issues Guidance on the Citywide Bill Restricting Employers...
As previously reported, on May 6, 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the "Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act" (Act), which makes it unlawful for most employers to use an...
View ArticleEEOC Settles Background Check Litigation with BMW, But Also Faces Steep...
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...
View ArticleRecent Amendments to Security Breach Notification Laws Further Complicate...
It is not a matter of "if" but "when" an employer will be required to notify employees of a security breach. Forty-seven states require employers to notify employees when defined categories of...
View ArticleNew York City Commission on Human Rights Issues Guidance on Citywide...
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...
View ArticlePresident Obama's Order "Banning the Box" for Federal Employees is an...
Last month, President Obama announced a new mandate to the federal government's human resources department to "delay inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process." ...By: Jennifer...
View ArticleFMCSA Lowers Random Drug Testing Level to 25 Percent in 2016
On December 21, 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it is reducing the minimal annual percentage rate for random drug testing for drivers subject to the...
View ArticleFederal Courts Increase Scrutiny of Employer Compliance with the FCRA's...
In the last two years, the number of employment class actions under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has ballooned. Most of the cases reported in the media have involved challenges to an...
View ArticlePennsylvania Court Rules Background Screening Law Unconstitutional
On December 30, 2015, the Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania unanimously found the Older Adults Protective Services Act’s (the Act) lifetime prohibition on the ability of individuals with convictions...
View ArticleNew Jersey Agency Issues Regulations on Statewide “Ban-the-Box” Law
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...
View ArticleFINRA Members Subject to New Background Screening Rules
Last year, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a non-governmental organization that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets, approved proposed Rule 3110(e), which...
View ArticleNew Mexico Court Finds Employer Had No Obligation to Accommodate Medical...
Must a New Mexico employer allow an employee to use medical marijuana as a reasonable accommodation for the employee’s disability? “No,” according to a New Mexico federal district court. On January 7,...
View ArticleProposed Regulations Issued by the New York City Commission on Human Rights...
New York City’s Fair Chance Act (FCA), which became effective on October 27, 2015, imposes obligations on covered employers and employment agencies well beyond all other "ban-the-box" laws. On...
View ArticleAustin Becomes the First City in Texas to “Ban the Box”
On March 24, 2016, the Austin City Council passed the Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance, which will prohibit most employers from asking questions about or considering an individual’s criminal history until...
View ArticleProtecting Alcoholics, Preventing Alcohol Misuse and Distinguishing Between...
It has long been clear that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects alcoholism if it qualifies as a “disability.”1 That said, courts have consistently held that employers can have...
View ArticleVermont Joins the Ranks of Cities and States that "Ban the Box"
On May 3, 2016, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law that prohibits most employers from requesting criminal history information on an employment application. The law adds a new section...
View ArticlePennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Act Leaves Employers' Ability to Enforce...
On April 17, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed legislation authorizing the use of medical marijuana (the Medical Marijuana Act or MMA) in Pennsylvania. The new law – effective May 17, 2016 –...
View ArticleFTC Releases Updated FCRA Guidance On Background Checks
On May 10, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a new publication related to background checks and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) titled What Employment Background Screening...
View ArticleOSHA’s New Electronic Accident Reporting Rule Seeks to Dramatically Impair...
Many thousands of employers implement post-accident drug and alcohol testing policies to promote workplace safety, as part of accident investigation efforts and in the hope of reducing workplace...
View ArticleConnecticut Becomes the Third Jurisdiction in 2016 to "Ban the Box"
On June 1, 2016, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed a bill into law that prohibits most employers from requesting criminal history information on an initial employment application. Connecticut’s...
View ArticleOhio Becomes the Latest State to Legalize Marijuana for Certain Medical Uses...
Last year, Ohio legislators found themselves caught in the middle of a media firestorm created by various pro-legalized marijuana groups who were politically savvy and financially funded enough to...
View ArticleCal/OSHA Warns California Employers That Another Hot Summer is on the Horizon
On June 1, 2016, the California Occupational Safety and Health Division (Cal/OSHA), predicting that temperatures in certain parts of Southern California and even the cooler Bay Area are expected to...
View ArticlePhiladelphia Becomes the First Jurisdiction in 2016 to Restrict Employers...
On June 7, 2016, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed a bill to make it unlawful, with limited exceptions, for employers to procure or use an applicant’s or employee’s credit history for employment...
View ArticleCalifornia Fair Employment & Housing Council Considers Proposed (and Recently...
In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its long-awaited “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title...
View ArticleCalifornia's Recreational Marijuana Initiative Is Not Expected To Impact...
California may be the next state to join Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Oregon and Washington in legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana. On November 8, 2016, California voters will...
View ArticleFour States Expanded Employer Data Breach Notification Obligations in 2016
With over 680 security breaches reported so far in 2016, more employers are being forced to confront the issue of how to respond to a breach. All states except Alabama, North Dakota and New Mexico now...
View ArticleCalifornia Amends Labor Code to Prohibit Employers from Using Juvenile...
On September 27, 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 1843, which amends the California Labor Code to prohibit employers from considering certain juvenile records for...
View ArticleNew Background Check Requirements for California Transportation Network...
Effective January 1, 2017, drivers participating with a Transportation Network Company (TNC) in California will be subject to mandatory criminal background checks, regardless of whether a driver is...
View ArticleForget Trump or Clinton—What Else is on the November 8 Ballot?
Next week, Americans will head to the polls to elect their 45th President. Across the nation, voters will also fill 469 congressional seats, including 435 in the House and 34 in the Senate. While these...
View ArticleEEOC Increases Scrutiny of Employer Actions Taken Against Prescription Drug...
Prescription drug abuse has made national news in the last few years. In March 2016, President Obama noted that “prescription opioid abuse and [the] heroin epidemic claims the lives of tens of...
View ArticleCity of Los Angeles Mayor to Sign Long-Awaited and Onerous “Ban the Box” Law
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...
View ArticleCal/OSHA Adopts First in the Nation Standard on Workplace Violence Prevention...
National research indicates that health care workers are at a substantially higher risk of workplace violence than the average worker in another industry. According to the federal Occupational Safety...
View ArticleCal/OSHA Amendment Significantly Expands its Definition of “Repeat” Violations
Effective January 1, 2017, Cal/OSHA will be utilizing a broader definition of “Repeat” violation under California’s Health and Safety Code. This is significant for California employers because if...
View ArticleNinth Circuit is the First Appellate Court to Rule on “Extraneous Text” in a...
On January 20, 2017, 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....
View ArticleDistrict of Columbia Mayor Signs Law Restricting Employers from Using Credit...
On February 15, 2017, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a bill prohibiting, with limited exceptions, employers’ use of or obtaining a job applicant's or employee's credit information for...
View ArticleCalifornia Employers Are Subject to New Requirements When Using Criminal...
In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its long-awaited “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title...
View ArticleIt's Not Just a Box: Understanding How "Ban-the-Box" Laws Go Beyond Your...
In 1998, Hawaii became the first state to “ban the box,” prohibiting private employers from inquiring about a candidate’s criminal history until the employer has made a conditional offer. It was not...
View ArticleCalifornia Lawmakers Introduce Statewide Ban-the-Box Law
When it comes to legislation restricting employer use of criminal records, California seems to be leading the charge. In the last six months alone, we have reported on a variety of new laws that apply...
View ArticleNew Changes to Massachusetts Regulations on Criminal History Checks
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...
View ArticleFTC Issues "Advice" on Background Check Disclosure and Authorization Forms
On April 28, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a blog article entitled “Background checks on prospective employees: Keep required disclosures simple.” The FTC is one of the two federal...
View Article"Who Can It Be Now?" New York Court Explains Who May Be Liable For...
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....
View ArticleFederal District Court Holds Employer to its Promise in FCRA “Pre-Adverse...
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...
View ArticleEEOC's Race Discrimination Suit Against Janitorial Company Includes...
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...
View ArticleCalifornia Court Certifies FCRA Class of Over 40,000 Applicants
As Littler has reported, the number of class action lawsuits against employers alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has continued to spike. Most lawsuits proceed in federal...
View ArticleWashington Public Employer Hit with $1.8 Million Judgment for Failing to...
Last month, a Washington federal district court judge ordered an employer to pay a terminated employee a little over $1.8 million in damages for failing to accommodate the employee’s use of opioids...
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