California employers: Beware background check land mines

California is rife with regulation of how employers may obtain and consider background check information for use in hiring and personnel decisions. The state's ban-the-box law and the Los Angeles and San Francisco ordinances and amendments to the California Labor Code set strict rules on when and how employers can consider criminal history in employment.

Before 2014, when San Francisco enacted a citywide ban-the-box law, criminal history background checks were largely unregulated in California, except for a handful of Labor Code provisions that barred consideration of certain types of criminal records. Los Angeles and the state of California have now joined San Francisco with their own ban-the-box laws, which markedly differ from San Francisco’s.

This article highlights the laws concerning criminal history background check reports in California, after briefly discussing the decades-old federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It’s important for California employers to understand the basics of all laws affecting employment screening programs and determine what changes to policies, forms, and practices will ensure compliance and reduce the risk of claims.

FCRA basics