Studies show that an organization’s own people pose the most significant threat to information security and the privacy of customer, patient and employee data. Employers also must be mindful of negligent hiring claims and attempt to mitigate risk by ensuring that they protect their employees and customers from criminal misconduct by their employees. Employers have responded by implementing increasingly rigorous screening programs and by subjecting vendors’ and contractors’ employees to similarly stringent background checks. However, these screening programs can unwittingly create substantial legal exposure for the organization.

New federal and state laws are imposing increasingly complex restrictions on an employer’s use of criminal history and credit checks for hiring and other personnel decisions. At the same time, regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are flexing their enforcement muscle in an area that previously had seen limited enforcement action. These enforcement actions have caught the attention of plaintiffs’ class action attorneys who challenge screening in practices in class action lawsuits alleging violations of federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and other state and federal laws.

In this presentation, an expert in the area of background screening will describe these critical new federal and state law developments and their implications. She also will provide practical and strategic recommendations on conducting effective background checks in compliance with the web of new laws regulating the area of background screening, including the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recent guidance on the use of arrest and conviction records for employment purposes and new state laws that restrict the use of criminal records and credit reports.

EEOC Issues Updated Criminal Record Guidance that Highlights
Important Strategic and Practical Considerations for Employers

Vermont Becomes the Eighth State to Restrict the Use of Credit Reports for Employment Purposes

The FTC Staff Report on “40 Years of Experience with the Fair Credit Reporting Act” Illuminates Areas of Potential Class Action Exposure for Employers

01/16/2013 1:00 pm o'clock

01/16/2013 2:00 pm o'clock

Jennifer Mora

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