AB 1008 was signed into law by Governor Brown last week, which imposes greater restrictions on an employer’s ability to question an applicant’s conviction history – prior to a conditional job offer being extended. Effective January 1, 2018, it will be an unlawful employment practice for any employer with five or more employees to do any of the following:
1. To include on any application for employment, before the employer makes a conditional offer of employment to the applicant, any question that seeks the disclosure of an applicant’s conviction history.
2. To inquire into or consider the conviction history of the applicant, until after the employer has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant.
For more information, please read AB 1008.
Governor Brown also signed into law AB 168, which adds section 432.3 to the CA Labor Code that prohibits employers from considering an applicant’s salary history when deciding whether to hire him/her or when determining what compensation to offer. Employers may not seek an applicant’s salary history, whether verbally or in writing. However, the applicant may still voluntarily disclose salary information so long as it is not prompted from the employer.
For more information, please read AB 168.
What this means, is that your Employment Application form now needs to be modified to eliminate questions about an applicant’s prior convictions and salary history. If you use Sierra HR Partners for your background investigations, effective, 1/1/18, we will no longer inquire about an applicant’s salary history during the employment verification process.
If you have any questions about this new legislature, please contact our office by phone, or reach out to one of our certified consultants or Executive Director, by e-mail:
Janet Keene, PHR – keene@sierrahr.com
Dan Larsen, PHR – larsen@sierrahr.com
Brenda Budke, SPHR – budke@sierrahr.com
You can also submit inquiries through our contact page. To do so, click here.
