In Limon v. Circle K Stores, Inc., the Fifth Appellate District court issued a favorable ruling for California employers regarding the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and employer background checks.  The appellate court held that a former employee for Circle K, Ernesto Limon, could not pursue a proposed class action against Circle K for

Effective January 1, 2018 California employers can no longer ask an applicant for employment to disclose information about criminal convictions.  The new law (added as Section 12952 to the Government Code) applies to employers with 5 or more employees.  Once an offer of employment has been made, employers can conduct criminal history background checks, but

Los Angeles City begins enforcement on July 1, 2017 of its Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance that prohibits employers from seeking criminal background information prior to offering a job to applicants.  The ordinance was effective in January 2017, but to give employers time to become compliant with the new hiring prohibitions, the City delayed

Mayor Garcetti signed into law the “Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring” ordinance on December 7, 2016.  The law takes effect January 22, 2017.  The Mayor’s holiday gift to employers leaves only a couple of weeks to them to change applications and hiring processes to comply with the new ordinance.  This Friday’s Five lists

Generally, California employers must comply with the following rules governing whether they may obtain criminal history information when conducting background checks for applicants or employees:

  1. Employers cannot consider prior arrests not leading to conviction in employment decisions.
  2. Employers cannot seek information or rely on information pertaining to referral to diversion programs.
  3. California prohibits employers from