What New York Employers Need to Know about Recent Changes in Background Screening Requirements

In an effort to encourage the employment of individuals with prior criminal convictions, New York’s Corrections Law has been amended to impose broader notice requirements on employers using criminal convictions found during background screening for employment decisions.

Beginning February 1, 2009, new background screening requirements go into effect and employers in New York must post a copy of New York State Correction Law Article 23-A, Section 753 “Licensure and Employment of Persons Previously Convicted of One or More Criminal Offenses” in a conspicuous and accessible location in the workplace. Employers in New York must also provide a copy of Article 23-A to individuals subject to criminal background screening on two occasions: before requesting a criminal history report from a background screening company, and after receiving a background screening report indicating a criminal history “hit.”

Just what exactly is "Article 23-A" and why does it affect background screening in New York?

Article 23-A is a list of factors that the State of New York says a company must consider before making an employment decision based on a candidate or employee’s criminal record found during the background screening process. These factors include the bearing of the criminal offense on the individual’s fitness for duty, the amount of time elapsed since the criminal offense, the age of individual at time of the criminal offense, and the seriousness of the criminal offense.

New York employers who receive criminal background checks from third party background screening companies about job applicants and existing employees will be affected by the amended Article 23-A. To help New York employers deal with the changes coming on February 1, Pre-employ.com – a nationwide leader in outsourced background screening – is sponsoring a FREE webinar titled “What New York Employers Need to Know about Recent Changes in Background Screening Requirements” on Tuesday, January, 27, 2009 from 11:00 AM to 11:40 AM PST.

Participants in this webinar will learn how these new background screening requirements in New York could affect employers from expert guest speakers Pamela Devata and Scott Paler of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. New York business decision makers interested in participating in the webinar – “What New York Employers Need to Know about Recent Changes in Background Screening Requirements” – may sign up at http://www.pre-employ.com/NYLaw.

New York Correction Law Article 23-A in .pdf format

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