As laws continue to change, employers must ensure the employment applications and background checking processes and procedures they use are up-to-date and compliant. Currently, many employment applications ask about an applicant’s criminal history and the answers are taken into account during hiring decisions. However, a few states and cities around the country have enacted “ban the box” laws that prohibit employers from inquiring about criminal history (including asking if the applicant has ever been convicted of any crime). Even those states without “ban the box” legislation are still limited in the type of information that can be acquired during the application process. Additional changes in the law require employers to obtain authorization from applicants prior to using a third party to perform background checks and it includes certain rules about the use of credit information in hiring decisions (Fair Credit Reporting Act-FCRA). Checking applicable laws in all of the jurisdictions where employers hire employees is crucial to navigating the do’s and don’ts of the pre-employment process.

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