The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed an appropriations bill (H.R. 5326) that provides funding for several agencies including the allocation of $367 million the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) but also includes amendments that would block implementation and enforcement of several programs including the new EEOC guidance on the ‘Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’ for employers using criminal background checks. The full text of H.R. 5326 is available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr5326/text. (more…)

Attorney Lester Rosen, founder and CEO of background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR), has submitted a letter of public comment to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, regarding the April 25, 2012 meeting where the EEOC voted 4-1 to approve updated Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The letter is available at: http://www.esrcheck.com/Les-Rosen-Public-Comment-on-EEOC-Criminal-Guidance.php. (more…)

On May 4, 2012, many of the new provisions of the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform Law, Chapter 256 of the Acts of 2010 signed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in August of 2010 will take effect. Commonly known as ‘CORI Reform,’ the law changes who will have authorized access to CORI and how CORI will be accessed.  As a result of the CORI Reform, the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) will replace the existing CORI system with a new secure, web-based system called ‘iCORI’ that should be available on May 7, 2012. (more…)

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) — the world’s largest human resources association representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries — has issued a statement on the updated Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 25, 2012. The updated Enforcement Guidance from the EEOC, the agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, is available at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm. (more…)

A class action complaint filed against a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) on April 16, 2012, alleges that the Defendant reported inaccurate criminal data obtained from an “instant” criminal record search without courthouse confirmation, and also that there was allegedly no notice to the consumer who was the subject of the search. The suit also alleges that such acts were in violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that protects consumers from inaccurate or irrelevant information and failed to meet the standard of accuracy and fairness mandated by the FCRA. (more…)