HR - Background Checks

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) 2012 guidance on an employer’s use of criminal background checks is an example of administrative overreach and should be withdrawn, according to panelists testifying before a House subcommittee panel on Tuesday. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Chairman o

On May 22, 2014, one year after the city of Buffalo, NY, passed its ordinance restricting employers’ inquiries into criminal history, its neighbor across the Niagara isthmus, Rochester, NY, enacted a similar “ban-the-box” law. Rochester’s legislation comes just one week after Baltimore, MD, enacted

In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its updated enforcement guidance concerning how, in its view, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) restricts an employer’s discretion to consider criminal records relative to employment decisions.1 The EEOC was

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued joint guidance to employers, employees and job applicants on the use of background checks in employment. The tip sheets do not deviate from prior agency guidance on this topic, but rather

In 2013, the ballooning number of employment class actions illuminated the sea change in Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) litigation. The FCRA was enacted in 1970 during President Nixon's administration, and is hardly in its adolescence. FCRA claims against employers, even class action lawsuits, are

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has introduced a bill that would prohibit employers from asking prospective employees about their credit histories or obtaining such information through a consumer or credit report. In addition, the Equal Employment for All Act (S. 1837) would amend the Fair Credit Repor

As privacy professionals know too well, organizations that handle personal information, especially personal information that can trigger security breach notification obligations, have an overwhelming need to screen out untrustworthy applicants from positions that permit access to such data. One tool

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently responded to a letter sent by a number of state attorneys general urging the agency to reconsider its guidance on the use of criminal background checks in employment. The guidance at issue – Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in

Criminal background checks obtained for employment purposes are under attack from various sources – the plaintiffs' bar via class and individual lawsuits lodged against employers and consumer reporting agencies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, regulatory agencies, and the legislatu

On August 9, 2013, a federal district court judge in Maryland dismissed, without a trial, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Title VII suit against Freeman over alleged discriminatory background checks based largely on fatal flaws in the EEOC’s expert report—described by the court