Starting March 28, 2024, Los Angeles County has extended the Fair Chance Act’s reach, adding more obligations for employers with five or more employees in unincorporated areas of the county. We recognize the challenges of interpreting these new rules, so we’ve outlined the key highlights below to assist you in staying compliant.

Crucial Aspects of the Fair Chance Ordinance: Top of Form

Bottom of Form

  1. Job Solicitations: Employers must include specific language in all job solicitations, postings, and advertisements, affirming consideration of qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records. Any indication of excluding individuals with criminal histories is prohibited.
  2. Pre-Conditional Offer Inquiries: Employers are barred from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history before extending a conditional job offer. Any efforts to subtly encourage disclosure or prematurely end an interview upon disclosure of a conviction are forbidden.
  3. Conditional Job Offers: When a conditional job offer hinges on a criminal history check, the employer must provide a written justification for the check. Applicants are not required to disclose their own criminal history information.

  1. Individualized Assessments: Before rejecting employment based on an applicant’s criminal history, employers must conduct an individualized assessment to ascertain whether the history directly impacts job performance. This evaluation must be documented and shared with the applicant alongside a preliminary adverse action notice.
  2. Applicant Response: Applicants must be granted an opportunity to respond to the preliminary adverse action notice. Initially, they have five business days to respond, and at least ten days to present evidence of rehabilitation or mitigating circumstances.
  3. Final Decision: Following the applicant’s response, the employer must conduct a second individualized assessment before making a final decision. If the conditional offer is revoked, the applicant must be notified in writing within 30 days.
  1. Record Keeping: Employers are required to maintain all records related to the hiring process for four years.

Penalties & Enforcement:

The Fair Chance Ordinance assigns the County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs the authority to investigate violations and levy penalties ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 per violation. Additionally, private civil litigation is permitted. Given the intricate nature of these new requirements, we urge all employers seeking to hire in unincorporated Los Angeles County to seek guidance on navigating these regulations.

Our team is ready to offer assistance and counsel to ensure compliance with the Fair Chance Ordinance.

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