by Thomas F. Harrison - Courthouse News Service
BOSTON (CN) — A pair of Maine laws designed to help people repair their credit after experiencing problems that weren’t their fault left the First Circuit stumped at oral arguments Wednesday.
The question was whether federal law preempts such a move, but the judges seemed to think the federal statute was badly written and hopelessly unclear.
Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/maine-credit-report-limits-baffle-1st-circuit/
by Michaelle Bond - The Philadelphia Inquirer
A New Jersey single father of two convicted of drug offenses has been sober for almost two years and has been out of prison for about three. The man, who is in his 30s, has a stable job working for a union and has enough money for a security deposit and to make rent payments.
“Yet he can’t find an apartment that’s willing to take him because of his felony conviction,” said Priscilla Carmona, a cofounder of the Jersey City-based organization SCORES Reentry, which provides services to formerly incarcerated people throughout New Jersey.
by Will Anderson - Dallas Business Journal
Of the many clashes at this year's Texas Legislature about state control versus local control, one has particular significance for businesses: who gets to set rules around hiring and employee benefits at private companies.
Senate Bill 14 would stop municipalities and counties from adopting rules around terms of employment "that exceed or conflict with federal or state law." Those terms include employment leave, hiring practices, employment benefits and scheduling practices. That would bar things such as mandatory paid sick leave in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, and could impact other local ordinances that have been in effect for years.
Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2021/05/20/texas-local-control-hiring.html
by Elsa Andrianifahanana, David Birnbaum, Michael Gray, Brent Knight, Jonathan Linas, Elizabeth McRee, Jennifer Plagman, E. Michael Rossman, Efrat Schulman, Samantha Woo, Ann-Marie Woods - Jones Day - JD Supra
In Short
The Situation: Recent amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act ("IHRA") restrict Illinois employers from relying upon conviction records to make adverse employment decisions unless they comply with new substantive and procedural safeguards.
The Result: Illinois employers cannot rely upon conviction records to make adverse employment decisions unless, after providing notice, an opportunity to respond, and considering any mitigating factors, the employer concludes there is a "substantial relationship" between the conviction and the job at issue and/or the individual's employment presents an "unreasonable risk" to property, safety, or individual welfare.
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/illinois-restricts-employers-from-using-3163187/
by Courtney Vinopal - PBS News Hour
Michael has struggled with kidney disease since he was in his early 20s serving in the military. The high stress of the job ultimately put him in the hospital, and he was not able to return to the service due to his condition. The 37-year-old Virginia Beach resident, who requested his name be changed because of concerns about retaliation from future employers, said that a nurse mentioned during that hospital stay that marijuana could help alleviate many of his symptoms, like nausea and vomiting. But at the time, the substance was not legal in Virginia.
by Colleen O’Dea - NJ Spotlight News
New Jersey lawmakers and social-justice advocates launched a push Tuesday for legislation to help the formerly incarcerated rent an apartment by curtailing the ability of landlords to deny housing to some people based on their criminal histories.
The Fair Chance Housing Act, embodied in S-250 and A-1919, is an effort to “ban the box” that asks whether a person has been convicted of a crime on housing-rental applications. The bills would still allow a landlord to ultimately deny renting to someone with a criminal record based on certain criteria and if the landlord has a “substantial, legitimate and nondiscriminatory interest” in doing so. But failure to follow the law would subject a landlord to penalties.
by Rhonda Levy and Monty Verlint - Littler - JD Supra
On November 17, 2020, Canada’s federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry introduced Bill C-11, An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Act (Bill C-11) for consideration in the House of Commons. The short title of Bill C-11 is the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2000, and its aim is to reform federal private sector privacy legislation.
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/canada-new-federal-privacy-legislation-5598325/
by Rox Laird - Courthouse News Service
DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — An Iowa city’s ordinance that initially bars employers from checking job applicants’ criminal records should be struck down because it conflicts with state and federal law, an Iowa business group told the state’s high court Wednesday.
The Waterloo City Council passed the ordinance in 2019 inspired by the “ban the box” movement that protects job applicants from being denied jobs based on their criminal records, which most directly impacts members of minority groups. Waterloo has the highest percentage of African Americans of any city in Iowa, and Blacks make up 40% to 60% of inmates at the Black Hawk County Jail at any given time.
Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/iowa-supreme-court-urged-to-strike-down-ban-the-box-ordinance/
by Susan M. Corcoran, Richard Greenberg, Eileen K. Keefe, Timothy M. McCarthy - The National Law Review
Changes to Philadelphia law will further restrict employers’ use and reliance on applicant, current employee, and independent contractor background information and affect the employee application and employee management process.
Amendments to Philadelphia’s Unlawful Credit Screening Practices in Employment ordinance and Fair Criminal Record Screenings Standards ordinance (FCRSS), commonly referred to as the “Ban the Box” regulation, took effect March 21, 2021, and April 1, 2021, respectively. The regulations supplement the governing requirements of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Pennsylvania’s Criminal History Record Information Act (CHRIA).
by David Krueger - JD Supra
There is an important distinction in FCRA litigation between cases where a consumer disputes the inaccuracy of information being reported to consumer reporting agencies versus where the consumer is disputing liability for the debt itself, as shown by the Northern District of Alabama’s recent decision in Edwards v. Med-Trans Corp., No. 2:20-CV-00114, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53424 (N.D. Ala. March 22, 2021). In Edwards, Air-ambulance service Med-Trans charged Andrew Edwards about $50,000 for flying him from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Birmingham, Alabama. Edwards, who was in a medically induced coma at the time, argued that he did not agree to pay for the flight. The parties tried to negotiate the sum, but talks failed.
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/disputed-liability-on-debt-does-not-6495169/
