by Colleen Anderson Hartley - JD Supra
When an employer is considering a job applicant, it likely wants to investigate the person’s work history, education, criminal record, financial history, medical information, among others. This type of background check is known as a consumer report and is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-fair-credit-reporting-act-and-9390280/
by Jody Godoy - Reuters
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled on Friday that government agencies can be sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, deepening a circuit split on the issue but drawing a sharp dissent from one judge.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that Congress waived the federal government's sovereign immunity under the law, which governs how credit agencies handle consumer information.
by Chantal Bernier, Sasha Coutu, Alexandra Quigley - JD Supra
Québec’s Bill 64, An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information, was adopted unanimously, on September 21, 2021, receiving assent on September 22, 2021. The clock has started running to prepare for its implementation in covered organizations. While most new provisions will come into effect only two years after assent, the organizational transformation they entail is significant and will require time and resources. To comply with Bill 64, organizations must: i) establish data governance processes, including ones to assist individuals in exercising new privacy rights, ii) develop corporate data management policies, iii) adopt technological solutions to de-index or transfer personal information upon request; and iv) issue internal guidelines to support staff and service providers in the implementation of the new privacy regime.
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/bill-64-on-modernizing-quebec-privacy-3532823/
by Paul Davenport, Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — State auditors say public safety may be put at risk by reporting gaps and a backlog in the database that Arizona uses for conducting background checks of people seeking certain jobs or occupational licenses and for helping prosecutors and judges decide whether defendants should get plea bargains or lenient sentences.
By Rod M. Fliegel, Garrick Y. Chan - Littler
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.1 This will result from the court of appeal’s opinion in All of Us or None v. Hamrick, which prohibited the Riverside Superior Court from allowing its electronic criminal case index to be searched using an individual’s known date of birth or driver’s license number. Background check companies rely on searching such indexes for most criminal background checks in California state courts. And, while the lawsuit was brought against the Riverside Superior Court only, the court of appeal’s ruling impacts most California state courts, because the court’s ruling was based on a statewide law: California Rules of Court, rule 2.507 (Rule 2.507).2
by Susan Gross Sholinsky, Shawndra G. Jones, Brian G. Cesaratto - Epstein Becker & Green
As businesses find useful new ways to harness the evolving technology that captures and analyzes human biometric data, legal regulation of such technology’s usage is also developing, responding to concerns about personal privacy and control over personally identifying information. With a few states—notably, Illinois, Texas, and Washington—having taken the lead on protecting individual rights and restricting the collection and use of biometric information by requiring notice and consent, New York City has also recently enacted new rules that limit the collection, storage, and dissemination of such personal data.
by Brian J. Clark and Lauren R. Stocks-Smith - Venable LLP
Over the last ten years, a flurry of "ban-the-box" laws have been enacted, on the state and local level. Such laws are now being passed at the federal level. In response, many employers reevaluated how they used criminal history screens and background checks in hiring. Now, lawmakers in several jurisdictions—like New York City, Philadelphia, and Illinois—are expanding existing laws, imposing new, more stringent requirements on employers. As a second wave of "fair chance" legislation starts to form, lawsuits related to criminal history screens and background checks have also intensified. The shifting legal landscape and growing risks of litigation present challenges for organizations large and small. Prudent employers will take this opportunity to review existing practices and build a compliant, flexible system for hiring new talent.
by Mark E. Brossman, Ronald E. Richman, Scott A. Gold - Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
The New York City Commission on Human Rights (“Commission”) released its updated Legal Enforcement Guidance on the Fair Chance Act and Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Criminal History, which interprets the amendments to the New York City Fair Chance Act (“FCA”) that went into effect on July 29, 2021. We have previously written on the FCA’s ban on performing criminal background checks on applicants prior to a conditional offer of employment. The amendments provide additional employment protections to applicants and employees with a criminal history, pending criminal arrest or charges, or certain “non-convictions.”
Read more: https://www.srz.com/resources/new-requirements-for-employers-using-criminal-background-checks.html
by Pamela Q. Devata and Jennifer L. Mora - Seyfarth
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 decisions. With an effective date of August 1, 2021, Louisiana employers should consider an immediate review of their criminal history screening policies to ensure compliance with the new law.
Read more: https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/louisiana-employers-now-subject-to-fair-chance-law.html
by Timothy Gumaer, Fox Rothschild LLP - JDSupra
Inquiries into the criminal histories of job candidates and employees will be limited even further under amendments to New York City’s Fair Chance Act (FCA) that take effect July 29, 2021.
With the FCA’s expanding protection, employers are urged to review their job applications (as well as job postings, pre-hire paperwork, and onboarding documents) to ensure that they are incompliance with these new requirements.
Read more: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/nyc-imposes-new-limits-on-use-of-2167408/
