Senate Bill 1480, passed by the Illinois state legislature, mandates employers to draw a clear nexus between a prospective employee’s criminal history to the job they are being considered for and provide written notice to the applicant of the specific adverse information that led to the decision. Expected to be signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker, the bill is said to create “a greater administrative burden on employers, opportunity for more litigation and impact the ability for businesses to protect themselves, their employees and their customers,” according to law firm Smith Admunsen. Most of the obligations set forth in the law are already addressed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), leaving many to wonder why the state would be compelled to enact the law.
