A few knowledgeable comments from Monserrat Miller, Partner at Arnall Golden Gregory
- Quick fix for political junkies. Summertime in Washington, D.C. can mean pretty much nothing gets done up on Capitol Hill. If you are wondering what’s going to happen with tax reform, infrastructure, healthcare, immigration and so on you will likely have to wait until the Fall. The July Fourth recess has started, as both chambers are out of session. And then, when lawmakers return the week of July 10 Congress will have a work period of only three weeks before the month-long August recess begins. It might be fair to say, don’t expect too much from Congress until the Fall.
- A reminder for California employers that California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing regulations go into effect next month. The regulations restrict employers ability to consider criminal history information when making employment decisions and could lead to violations of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The effective date of the regulations is July 1, 2017. The Final Statement of Reasons states that the FEHA “prohibits employers from utilizing criminal records and information in employment decisions if doing so would have an adverse impact on individuals on a basis enumerated in the Act that the employer cannot prove is job-related and consistent with business necessity or if the employee or applicant has demonstrated a less discriminatory alternative means of achieving the specific business necessity as effectively.” Sounds an awful lot like the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s position/guidance on the use of criminal history records for employment purposes. Final text of the regulations can be found by clicking here.
