Last week, through the issuance of an executive order, the City of Birmingham became the first city in Alabama to “ban the box” on its hiring applications. The prohibition applies to municipal positions within the city, and it prevents an inquiry into an applicant’s criminal history at the application stage. The executive
As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s systematic review of all current FTC rules and guides, the agency recently announced a modified 10-year regulatory review schedule. To ensure that its rules and industry guides stay relevant and are not overly burdensome, the FTC reviews them at 10-year intervals. The review schedule is published each
On January 25, on a 23-15 vote, Virginia’s “ban the box” bill, SB335, passed the Virginia Senate. The proposal will now make its way to the Virginia House of Delegates for deliberation and potential approval.
SB 335 generally bars “state agencies” from inquiring into a job candidate’s criminal background before
On November 9, 2015, Terria Harris filed an Amended Complaint against Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) background check class action lawsuit. In this complaint, she alleged that Home Depot violated the FCRA’s background check disclosure requirement because the disclosure she signed was allegedly “embedded with extraneous information.” As a
On January 15, the United States Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari in the matter of Baker v. Microsoft Corp. on the issue of whether plaintiffs may voluntarily dismiss their suit after class certification is denied as a procedural tactic to guarantee appellate review of an unfavorable class certification decision.
Rule 23(f) allows a
Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would heighten the standards for obtaining class certification by requiring extra scrutiny as to the continuity of the damages claimed by the class representative and the putative class members. Lawmakers voted 211-188 to pass H.R. 1927, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and
In Lagos v. The Leland Stanford Junior University, the plaintiff alleged the defendant’s background check disclosure violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act because it included notices regarding background checks required under state law. The court declined to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim at the pleading stage, finding the existence of these state law notices could
Last week, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed into law a bill that will bar public employers from including on job applications questions concerning an applicant’s criminal background for public sector jobs.
Earlier this month, the Ohio Senate voted overwhelmingly, on a 32-1 vote, to “ban the box” for public sector jobs. In late September, the
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken action against CarHop, one of the country’s biggest “buy-here, pay-here” auto dealers, and its affiliated financing company, Universal Acceptance Corporation, for providing “damaging, inaccurate consumer information to credit reporting companies.” The CFPB found that CarHop and Universal Acceptance Corporation violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Consumer
Last week, Missouri’s attorney general proposed reforms to address collection practices that he believes target low-income and minority residents.
Attorney General Chris Koster said he sent a letter to the Missouri Supreme Court’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness requesting changes in court rules that he said would help prevent unscrupulous collection practices.
“These proposed