State curbs agencies’ background check practices

Four national consumer reporting agencies have agreed to change their background check practices for job applicants with criminal convictions to comply with New York law, state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Thursday.

The agreements prohibit the agencies from automatically disqualifying applicants with criminal convictions and require the agencies to stop issuing automatic rejection letters and instead defer hiring decisions to employers, who must individually consider candidates. New York law prohibits the automatic disqualification of job applicants based solely on criminal history.

The agreement was made with HireRight Inc., First Advantage, General Information Services Inc. and Sterling Infosystems. Schneiderman focused on the largest background check agencies used by employers across the state.

“New Yorkers who have paid their debt to society deserve a fair shot at employment opportunities,” the attorney general said in the announcement. “My office is committed to reforming practices in this industry that frustrate efforts at rehabilitation.”

State law requires that employers consider a number of mitigating factors in making hiring decisions based on criminal history. These include, for example, the nature and gravity of an applicant’s criminal conviction; its bearing, if any, on the specific responsibilities of the job sought; the time that has elapsed since the conviction; the age of the applicant at the time when the offense was committed, and evidence of rehabilitation.

The law also prohibits third parties from aiding and abetting employers in violating its provisions.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in a press release said hiring policies that automatically disqualify job candidates with criminal histories “have contributed to the disproportionately high rates of unemployment seen in minority communities today. These agreements will help transform the industry and will ensure that more African-Americans, Latinos and other communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs will have better access to equal employment opportunities.”

The matter was handled by the attorney general”™s civil rights bureau.