Excerpted from lexology.com, by Christopher W. Olmsted

Several California labor and employment law bills passed in the state assembly or senate before the June 2 deadline. The legislature now has until September 15, 2017, to pass these bills in the second house. Thereafter, the governor will have until October 15, 2017, to sign or veto any bills that pass in both houses.

Ban the Box
AB-1008 proposes to ban questions about job applicants’ criminal histories. If enacted, job applicants could not be asked about their criminal records, and similar questions on job applications would also be prohibited. Only after a conditional job offer was made could an employer consider such information.

Background checks for employment purposes would be limited to disclosing misdemeanors within three years of conviction, and only for crimes for which a jail sentence may be imposed. Checks on felonies would be limited to those resulting in a conviction during the past seven years.

In the event that an employer were to decline to hire an applicant with a criminal history, the employer would be required to disclose the basis for its decision and follow a 10-day procedure allowing the applicant to respond and rebut the information.

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