ENACTED LEGISLATION
NEW YORK: New guidance released for employers regarding salary history ban
Summary: On January 6, 2020, New York's salary history ban became effective, prohibiting all New York employers from requesting, requiring, or relying on salary history information for employment decisions. The state issued guidance to help employers understand their obligations under the new law. Notably, the guidance includes the following clarifications:

  • Employers may not inquire about current employees salary history unless information is already in its possession;
  • Employer may use salary history information if the applicant voluntarily discloses the information without prompting by the employer. "Optional" salary history questions on a job application will be considered prompting by the employer, and are not permitted;
  • "Salary history information" includes "compensation and benefits" and that an "applicant" includes "part-time, seasonal and temporary workers";
  • Employer may inquire into an applicant's salary expectations.
Impact(s): New York employers
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PROPOSED LEGISLATION
FLORIDA: Bill would require background checks on home delivery workers
Summary: HB 1129 would require all home-delivery workers to undergo background checks that include a local and national criminal background check and a search of the National Sex Offender public website, maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice. The bill includes a list of certain crimes that would prohibit the employee from entering a consumer's home or from being unsupervised with the consumer.
Impact(s): Florida home delivery employers
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ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: City aldermen approve "ban the box" bill
Summary: St. Louis aldermen unanimously passed a bill that would prohibit employers in the city from asking about job applicants' criminal histories, except in certain circumstances. The bill would allow employers to ask about criminal histories only after applicants have been interviewed. It would also prohibit employers from basing job hiring or promotion decisions on applicants' criminal histories "unless an employer can demonstrate their decision is based on all available information including the frequency, recentness and severity of a criminal history and that the history is reasonably related to or bears upon the duties and responsibilities of the position."

The bill would apply to all employers located in the City of St. Louis with ten or more employees.
Impact(s): St. Louis employers
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OTHER NEWS
CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU: CFPB Announces Taskforce on Consumer Law
Summary: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced four members who will serve on the Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. The members are:

  • Dr. J. Howard Beales, III, former Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy at the George Washington University and former Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission;
  • Dr. Thomas Durkin, Senior Economist (Retired) at the Federal Reserve Board;
  • L. Jean Noonan, Partner at Hudson Cook, former General Counsel at the Farm Credit Administration, and former Associate Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection's Credit Practice at the Federal Trade Commission; and
  • Todd J. Zywicki, Professor of Law at George Mason University (GMU) Antonin Scalia Law School, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, and former Executive Director of the GMU Law and Economics Center.

According to the CFPB, the Taskforce will "examine the existing legal and regulatory environment facing consumers and financial services providers and report to Director Kraninger its recommendations for ways to improve and strengthen consumer financial laws and regulations. The Taskforce will produce new research and legal analysis of consumer financial laws in the United States, focusing specifically on harmonizing, modernizing, and updating the federal consumer financial laws—and their implementing regulations—and identifying gaps in knowledge that should be addressed through research, ways to improve consumer understanding of markets and products, and potential conflicts or inconsistencies in existing regulations and guidance."
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