Seyfarth Synopsis: For California employers, compliance with the Fair Chance Act (FCA) is not a game. In recent years, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) has stepped up its investigations into complaints of FCA violations, and employers who don’t know the rules risk landing on a chute at every turn. Read on for our guide to navigating compliant background check
Continue Reading Game Changing! The CRD Steps Up Fair Chance Act ScrutinySeyfarth Synopsis: As the number of class actions alleging FCRA violations continues to skyrocket, it is critical for California employers to understand the basics of all laws affecting employment screening programs. This blog examines those laws and provides practical considerations for employers looking to hire or rehire employees during a shutdown affecting critical sources of information needed for background
Continue Reading The Business of Background Checks During a Pandemic
Seyfarth Synopsis: When we think of California employers encountering complex issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, images of retail, service, and other types of businesses come to mind. But one special type of employer needs to be mindful of California law: the family who employs workers to support the household as nannies, chefs, security personnel, personal assistants, and personal caregivers. We
Continue Reading Real Households of California: Issues with Domestic Workers
Seyfarth Synopsis: California’s ban-the-box law strictly regulates how employers may obtain and consider background check information when hiring and making personnel decisions. What’s more, Los Angeles and San Francisco have their own ban-the-box ordinances. These ordinances and the California Labor Code create a patchwork of rules that put employers at risk when checking whether an applicant has a criminal record.
Continue Reading California Employers Watch Out! Legal Minefields for Background Checks
Seyfarth Synopsis: While employees often will toot their own horn, employers sometimes may have concerns about their ability to safely perform their job. If this situation rings a bell, it will be music to your ears to hear that it may be possible to request employees to undergo a medical examination to certify their fitness for duty.
Fitness for
Continue Reading Is Your Employee As Fit As A Fiddle?
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a simpler time, courts reviewing medical cannabis laws issued employer-friendly decisions, generally finding no duty to accommodate medical cannabis even when state laws allowed its use for medical purposes. Now, however, the tide is rapidly turning. Where does California employment law currently stand on cannabis? Below we address burning issues regarding accommodations and drug testing.
What is
Continue Reading Cannabis in California: High Time to Smoke Out the Issues
Seyfarth Synopsis: It has long been clear that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California law protect employees who suffer from alcoholism if it qualifies as a “disability.” Although courts have recognized the right of an employer to have legitimate work rules that prohibit alcohol use in the workplace, the line between having a protected disability and engaging
Continue Reading Addressing Alcoholism in the California Workplace
Seyfarth Synopsis: California is rife with regulation of how employers may obtain and consider background check information for use in hiring and personnel decisions. The relatively new California ban-the-box law (effective January 1, 2018) and the older Los Angeles and San Francisco ordinances and amendments to the California Labor Code set strict rules on when and how employers can consider
Continue Reading California Employers: Beware the Background Check Bugaboos
Seyfarth Synopsis: A proposed bill would amend California employment discrimination law to protect medical marijuana users.
California—already famous (or infamous) as a sanctuary in the immigration area—could soon become a sanctuary for medical marijuana users. A proposed bill would protect medical marijuana users from employment discrimination.
Currently, California employers can deny employment to users of marijuana, even if the use
Continue Reading Into the Weeds: Will California Employment Law Protect Medical Marijuana Users?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers have been scammed into sending sensitive W-2 information to malicious third parties. This article outlines the key steps California employers must immediately take if subject to this unfortunate event.
In 2003, California became the first state to enact a data breach notification law: the California Data Protection Act. Since then, over 30 states have enacted similar statutes
Continue Reading California Employers Beware: W-2 Phishing Scams Skyrocket During Tax Season