People with arrest records, heavily African Americans and Latinos, have won a $15 million settlement in a case in which they were unable to obtain jobs as census takers due to alleged problems with the U.S. Census Bureau’s background check procedures. The…
Posts by Category: Criminal History Check
Weigh the Risks and Rewards of Employing Job Seekers with Criminal Histories
Given a workforce facing unprecedented skills gaps and a country where tens of thousands of state and federal inmates are being released back into their communities every month, finding a way to integrate previously incarcerated persons into the workforce is a worthy…
Indiana Passes New Legislation Restricting Criminal History Information Reported in Background Checks
The EEOC’s April 25, 2012 updated enforcement guidance on the use of arrest and conviction records by employers has generated renewed and substantial interest in the controversial subject of criminal background checks in the context of Title VII of the Civil…
Background Screening Class Certified in Obsolete Information Case
On July 26, a Northern District of California judge certified a class of applicants who claimed that S2Verify, a background check company, included obsolete criminal information on their background reports in violation of the FCRA. In certifying the class, the Court…
Criminal Histories are no Longer an Automatic Bar to Employment in Illinois Schools
Effective July 29, 2016, HB 4360 revised Illinois law to eliminate what was otherwise considered a lifetime ban on employment for those individuals seeking work in schools who had been convicted of certain non-violent drug offenses. Specifically, the revised law…
Tompkins County Moves to ‘Ban the Box’
Tompkins County legislators unanimously voted to “ban the box,” joining a growing number of employers removing the criminal conviction question from job applications. Cornell University also moved to ban the box. Removing the box from applications does not…
Racial Profiling in Hiring: A Critique of New “Ban the Box” Studies
Two recent studies claim that “ban the box” policies enacted around the country detrimentally affect the employment of young men of color who do not have a conviction record. The nation cannot afford to turn back the clock on a decade of reform that has created…
Louisiana Legislature Passes New Law Dealing with Employment of Sex Offenders
The Louisiana Legislature has passed a bill that based on the belief that sex offenders, sexually violent predators, and child predators pose a high risk of engaging in sex offenses and crimes against minors even after being released from incarceration. Two recent…
Portland’s Ban-the-Box Law Takes Effect, Administrative Rules Provide Clarity
Portland, Oregon’s ban-the-box law, the Removing Barriers to Employment Ordinance, took effect on July 1, 2016. The ordinance prohibits most Portland employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal history or conducting a background check on an applicant until…
Trends in the “Ban the Box” Movement: Recent Developments in City Ordinances
As cities across the nation adopt “ban the box” legislation that regulates private employers’ ability to inquire into applicants’ and employees’ criminal histories, employers face a nuanced gauntlet of compliance issues. Because of the current wave of ban the box…



