By Kate E. Trinkle, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC
Employers want to ensure they hire the right candidate for the role while mitigating potential negligent hiring, retention, and supervision claims. So, employers use various candidate pre-employment screening tools, including drug tests, background checks, and AI screenings. These resources can provide valuable candidate insights, but those insights often bear upon or reveal an individual’s protected characteristics, exposing employers to legal risks. Building a strong pre-employment screening process helps employers mitigate these risks.
Employers must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances associated with pre-employment screenings. This includes equal employment opportunity laws, like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, among others (“EEO laws”), and consumer-protection laws, like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and state and local variations thereof. Employers can enhance their pre-employment screening process by tailoring candidate screenings to the specific role and work environment, and any statutory or regulatory requirements that may apply, such that any screenings are demonstrably job-related and consistent with business necessity. Employers must also ensure that any screenings comply, in both timing and substance, with EEO laws, the FCRA, and jurisdiction-specific...
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is investigating allegations that false claims of child sexual abuse may have been filed against the county, as it settled thousands of legitimate ...