Written by: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Joining New York City, Westchester, and Albany, the Suffolk County Legislature, on November 20, 2018, adopted its own variation of a salary history ban. Taking effect on June 30, 2019, the Restricting Information on Salaries and Earnings Act (the “RISE Act”) amends Chapter 528 of the Suffolk County Human […]

Recently, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted “An Act to Amend the Law Regarding a Certificate of Relief For Criminal Convictions” (the “Act”). The Act will become effective on December 1, 2018, and applies to petitions for relief filed on or after that date. Legislators contemplated the Act would assist individuals convicted of certain crimes during their reintegration into society—particularly with regard to employment options. Essentially, when an individual obtains a certificate of relief, which is a court order, many collateral consequences associated with criminal convictions will be eliminated. In addition, the Act provides a defense for employers who may be concerned about negligent hiring/retention claims. In a lawsuit or administrative proceeding alleging negligence (such as negligent hiring or retention claims), a certificate of relief will bar any action alleging lack of due care in hiring, retaining, licensing, leasing to, admitting to a school or program, or otherwise doing business with or engaging in activity with an individual whom a certificate of relief was issued. The key to this defense, however, is that the employer must show that it relied on the certificate of relief at the time of the alleged negligent act. If the employer did not know about the certificate of relief at the time of the alleged negligent act, this defense will not be helpful.

On July 15, 1998, Hawaii became the first state to adopt a fair-chance law applicable to both private and public employers. The law bars employers from inquiring into, or considering, the criminal record of a prospective employee until after a conditional offer of employment has been made.
Since then, 30 other states — and more than 150 cities and counties — have adopted some form of “ban-the-box” legislation or fair-chance law designed to give applicants a shot at getting hired without the stigma of a conviction or arrest record, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
Particularly for multi-state employers, the patchwork of disparate laws can be daunting from a compliance standpoint. So how are they coping? HR Dive spoke with three experienced employment law attorneys to get their insights.

There are a few consumer reporting agencies to choose from around the country, but how does SimpliVerified compare?
When there are so many companies fighting for your business, it can be hard to know who is the right fit for you. You would think that the background check process is a fairly standard practice; that no matter what company you go with, you’ll get the same results, but this is not the case. Background checks are very important in the hiring process because you need to know who you are letting into your business. It is a huge responsibility both to whomever is doing the hiring, and to the consumer reporting agency. It can be a very stressful process, so we want to make it as pain free as possible. Here are just a few of the ways we help make this process easier.