Seyfarth 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
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California Employers Watch Out! Legal Minefields for Background Checks
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.
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California Legislative Update: Sexual Harassment, Other Bills Await Governor’s Signature
Seyfarth Synopsis: August 31 was the California Legislature’s last day to send bills to Governor Brown for his approval or veto by his September 30 deadline. Chief among them are bills addressing sexual harassment.
2018, the year of #MeToo, saw California Senators and Assembly Members introduce numerous bills on sexual harassment-prevention, often followed by their colleagues’ response of “me
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2018 California Legislative Update: What Survived the House of Origin Deadline?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Several bills of concern to California employers failed to receive the house of origin blessing and passage by the June 1 deadline, including this year’s attempts at PAGA reform, criminal history inquiries, and medical marijuana accommodations, while a boatload of others, most notably sexual harassment-related bills, sail on. The measures being passed to their opposite house for consideration
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California Employers: Beware the Background Check Bugaboos
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
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2018 California Legislative Update: It’s Spring! What Bills Have Sprung?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Dominating this spring’s planting of proposed employment-related legislation are bills aimed at ending sexual harassment and promoting gender equity. Among the secondary crops are bills regarding accommodation, leave, criminal history, and wage and hour law. It threatens to be another bitter fall harvest for California’s employer community.
California legislators stormed into the second half of the 2017-18 legislative
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Our Ear in the Crowd: FEHC Hears Comments on New Regulations
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Fair Employment and Housing Council issues regulations to implement California’s employment and housing anti-discrimination laws, including the FEHA, the CFRA, and the Unruh and Ralph Civil Rights Acts. The FEHC also conducts inquiries and holds hearings on various civil rights issues. The latest FEHC meeting was held on December 11, 2017. Our own correspondent was there, and
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2017 Labor & Employment Legislative Update: House of Origin Deadline
Seyfarth Synopsis: Pay equity and Ban The Box bills lead the list of bills approved to continue their quest (moving to the other house of the California Legislature) to become California law.
Friday, June 2, marked the last day for bills in the California Legislature to pass out of their house of origin—the Senate or Assembly—and continue the legislative process
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2017 California Labor and Employment Legislative Update: What to Watch
Seyfarth Synopsis: Back from Spring Break, and Back to Work: Our List of L&E Bills to Watch in the remainder of the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session.
California Legislators were, as always, very busy in the first few months of the 2017-18 Legislative Session, introducing well over 2000 bills by the February 17th bill introduction deadline. But, in comparison to prior
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New Regulations Limit California Employers’ Consideration of Criminal History
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Fair Employment and Housing Council (“FEHC”) has approved new regulations, effective July 1, 2017, to limit employers’ use of criminal history when making employment decisions.
New Regulation Highlights
Updating our prior post, the FEHC has finalized new regulations on employer consideration of criminal history, largely adopting the guidance set forth by the Equal Employment Opportunity
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