In early April, San Francisco amended its Fair Chance Ordinance to align with Californias new ban-the-box law, which requires employers with five or more employees to wait until after a conditional offer of employment is made to inquire about an applicants criminal history, conduct an individualized assessment of an applicants conviction, notify the applicant of any potential adverse action based on the conviction history, and, after waiting the requisite time period, notify the applicant of any final adverse action. The City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved amendments to its Fair Chance Ordinance (Article 49), which include reducing the number of employees needed to qualify as a covered employee from 20 to five and requires employers to wait until after a conditional offer of employment is made before inquiring about criminal history. Violations that occur after the effective date of the amended Ordinance could include increased penalties of up to $2,000 over multiple offenses.
