The city of Gainesville has passed a Fair Chance Hiring law governing an employer's use and consideration of a job applicant's criminal history in making employment decisions. In light of these changes, covered employers with operations in Gainesville that use criminal records to vet candidates should consider a privileged review of their policies, procedures, and other documents related to the screening process.

Effective December 15, 2022, the city of Gainesville became the first jurisdiction in Florida to restrict the use of pre-employment inquiries into an applicant's criminal history.¹ The City has now joined the dozens of other states, counties, and municipalities outside of Florida that have placed restrictions on the consideration of an applicant's criminal history. What's more, the City's law is actually one of the more onerous laws and is similar in some respects to the New York City Fair Chance Act.

Fair Chance Hiring Practices

The new law applies to employers with 15 or more employees who have worked primarily in Gainesville for each working day in each of 4 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. It also applies to staffing agencies that assign individuals to work for employers and retains the obligation to pay such individuals for that work. Certain entities are exempted from the law's requirements, including state and governmental entities and actors, childcare facilities (as defined by Florida law), care facilities...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiwwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5tb25kYXEuY29tL3Vu...