The Department of Fair Employment and Housing Ramps Up Enforcement of California’s “Ban-the-Box” Law
Thursday, December 9, 2021
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) recently announced a new effort to identify and correct violations of the Fair Chance Act. The Fair Chance Act, which was enacted in January 2018 and is commonly known as California’s “ban-the-box” law, amended the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) to prohibit employers with five or more employees from directly or indirectly inquiring into, seeking the disclosure of, or considering an applicant’s conviction history (including questions on a job application) until after the applicant receives a conditional offer of employment. We previously summarized employers’ obligations under the Fair Chance Act here.
Among its restrictions, the Fair Chance Act imposes limitations on the types of statements employers can make in job advertisements. The law prohibits employers from publicizing that they will not consider applicants with a criminal history. This includes, for example, advertisements stating, “No Felons” or “Must Have Clean Record.” These and similar statements violate the Fair Chance Act’s requirement that employers consider an applicant’s criminal history on an individual basis, as well as any mitigating information provided by the applicant.
While the Fair Chance Act has been in place since January 2018, the DFEH (the agency charged with enforcing the Fair Chance Act) continues to identify non-compliant job advertisements and materials that employers have posted online. In fact, in a recent one-day review of online job advertisements using technology to conduct mass searches of online job advertisements, the DFEH found over 500 advertisements containing unlawful statements that the employer would not consider job applicants with a criminal record. The DFEH announced that it is documenting these violations and sending notices to the employers to remove the unlawful statements.
The DFEH also released a Fair Chance Act Toolkit and plans to release an interactive training and online application in 2022 to assist employers with compliance. The toolkit provides the following resources:
Sample forms that employers can use to follow the Fair Chance Act’s required procedures;
A guide to using DFEH’s sample forms;
A suggested statement that employers can add to job advertisements and applications to let applicants know that the employer will consider individuals with criminal histories;
Answers to frequently asked questions about the Fair Chance Act; and
An informational video that explains the Fair Chance Act.
In light of the DFEH’s enforcement posture and its monitoring of online job advertisements, employers are encouraged to carefully review their recruiting and hiring materials and consult with their legal counsel to ensure compliance with the Fair Chance Act. The legal ramifications for non-compliance are high as the Fair Chance Act allows employees who have suffered a violation of the law to file claims with the DFEH and pursue remedies under the FEHA, which may include compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.
公平就业和住房部加强加州“禁盒”法的执行
2021 年 12 月 9 日，星期四
加利福尼亚州公平就业和住房部（“DFEH”）最近宣布了一项新的努力，以识别和纠正违反《公平机会法》的行为。 2018 年 1 月颁布的《公平机会法》，通常被称为加州的“禁盒”法，修订了《公平就业和住房法》（“FEHA”），禁止拥有五名或五名以上雇员的雇主直接或间接询问、寻求披露或考虑申请人的定罪历史（包括关于工作申请的问题），直到申请人收到有条件的就业机会。我们之前在这里总结了《公平机会法》下雇主的义务。
《公平机会法》对雇主可以在招聘广告中发表的言论类型进行了限制。该法律禁止雇主公开表示，他们不会考虑有犯罪记录的申请人。这包括，例如，广告声明，“无重罪犯”或“必须无不良记录”。这些以及类似的陈述违反了公平机会法案的要求，该法案要求雇主在个人基础上考虑申请人的犯罪历史，以及申请人提供的任何减轻罪行的信息。
虽然《公平机会法》自 2018 年 1 月起实施，但 DFEH（负责执行《公平机会法》的机构）继续识别雇主在网上发布的不合规招聘广告和材料。事实上，在最近一次使用技术对在线招聘广告进行大规模搜索的在线招聘广告的为期一天的审查中，DFEH 发现了 500 多个广告，其中包含雇主不会考虑有犯罪记录的求职者的非法声明。 DFEH 宣布正在记录这些违规行为，并向雇主发送通知以删除这些非法声明。
DFEH 还发布了《公平机会法案》工具包，并计划在 2022 年发布交互式培训和在线应用程序，以协助雇主合规。该工具包提供以下资源：
雇主可用于遵循《公平机会法》规定程序的表格样本；
使用 DFEH 样本表格的指南；
雇主可以在招聘广告和申请中添加的建议声明，让申请人知道雇主会考虑有犯罪历史的个人；
关于《公平机会法》的常见问题解答；和解释公平机会法案的信息视频。
鉴于 DFEH 的执法态势及其对在线招聘广告的监控，鼓励雇主仔细审查其招聘和招聘材料，并咨询其法律顾问，以确保遵守《公平机会法》。不合规的法律后果很高，因为《公平机会法》允许遭受违法行为的员工向 DFEH 提出索赔并根据 FEHA 寻求补救措施，其中可能包括补偿性损害赔偿、惩罚性损害赔偿和律师费。
Citation: The Department of Fair Employment and Housing Ramps Up Enforcement of California’s “Ban-the-Box” Law
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