Fenwick lawyer Sheeva Ghassemi-Vanni was quoted in the Law360 story titled “3 ‘Ban the Box’ Mishaps Employers Should Steer Clear Of.” “Ban the box” laws delay employers from requesting information about employees’ criminal history until later in the hiring process and restrict the type of information employers can ask for. As these laws have been passed at the state and local level, businesses with multiple locations are finding it difficult to comply with the varying laws in different jurisdictions.
Law360 examined common errors employers make regarding criminal history inquiries and offered suggestions for how to avoid these mistakes. For example, employers should avoid blanket exclusions based on criminal records.
According to Ghassemi-Vanni, many of the various pre-hiring laws like ban the box have “the same overall purpose, but are all a little different,” and that those procedural differences are where employers are getting tripped up. Also, “you have to think about a conviction in the context of the job and not in isolation,” Ghassemi-Vanni told Law360.
The full article is available through the Law360 website.