| Summary: The plaintiff, Genevieve Suarez, was hired in early November, 2021 by a large clothing retailer at one of the company's upstate New York warehouses. Suarez contends that the company terminated her employment upon discovering she had been convicted of a misdemeanor for welfare fraud in 2017.
Suarez filed suit in White Plains, New York on January 3, 2022, arguing that the employer did not perform an individualized Article 23-A assessment of the conviction to properly determine the impact it would have on her potential job performance. According to the Plaintiff, the employer never inquired about the "circumstances surrounding her conviction" or about her "rehabilitation and good conduct."
The New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) prohibits employers from denying employment to people convicted of crimes unless the employer first performs a thorough and individualized analysis of the specific Article 23-A factors and determines that:
- a direct relationship exists between the context of the conviction and the position in question; or
- the context of the conviction indicates that an individual's employment could pose "an unreasonable risk."
Suarez is seeking to represent a class of individuals claiming termination from jobs located in the state of New York based on a deficient or absent assessment of conviction history.
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| Impact(s): New York employers |
| Summary: Effective December 20, 2021, the "National Defense Authorization Act" will prohibit federal contractors, as well as all federal agencies, from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history information until after a conditional job offer has been made. Exceptions to the Act include: positions related to law enforcement and national security duties, positions that require access to classified information, and positions that, by law, require a federal contractor or the federal government to obtain criminal history information before extending an offer of employment.
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| Impact(s): All federal contractors and agencies |
