Month: July 2021

Featured

Client Update: Some CA Counties Removing Date of Birth from Public Court Case Indexes

Los Angeles County UPDATE: July 26, 2021 (see below)

A-Check is following recent news that a number of California counties are removing (or have already removed) the DOB from public court case indexes, in response to a legal decision against the Riverside Superior Court where the judge ruled that court records are improperly maintained.

As a result, public facing court research within impacted counties is “name match only,” “name and YOB only” and in some counties the public access option has been removed altogether, forcing researchers to rely on clerks for searches which could previously be performed online.  Consumer Reporting Agencies like A-Check are required to perform additional research to further confirm and validate cases. As you might guess, this causes increased or indefinite delay in completing criminal record searches because A-Check requires 3 identifiers to authenticate the identity of search information.

In light of these developments—and as additional counties may begin to follow this direction—A-Check will work closely with courts as we continue to serve all clients to the best of our ability.

IMPACTED COUNTIES

Fresno, Kern – Search conducted by name only. All name matches require clerk assistance, and delays expected (and noted within candidate files) for search results.

Riverside – Search conducted by name only. All name matches require clerk assistance, and delays expected (and noted within candidate files) for search results.

Ventura – Ability to search by name online has been altogether removed from the online index. This county is now fully clerk assisted, and researchers are currently restricted from courts. We are reaching out daily to determine how they intend to assist with the data, and delays are noted within candidate files for search results.

ADDITIONAL IMPACTED COUNTIES (Now or in the near future)

Santa Clara
Tulare
Yuba
San Bernardino

UPDATE:

The Los Angeles Public Access site now restricts research filtering by name and year of birth only. A-Check researchers will need to verify DOB first to confirm a full name/DOB birth match before requesting court documents. As you might imagine, clerks already have severe COVID-19 restrictions regarding public contact. They will now be managing DOB verification requests in additional to existing workloads. Files with a possible match will be noted with an extended TAT and A-Check will continue to adjust as we refine our process with clerks in this high-volume county.

If you have any questions about this information, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here and always happy to help.

Featured

Compliance Clips for July 2021

I-9 COMPLIANCE

Ongoing Extension: Form I-9 Requirements in response to COVID-19
The in-person requirement for the Form I-9 is temporarily suspended if your company is closed or taking other precautions due to COVID-19. The general rule is that an employer must undertake a physical inspection of the document(s) presented by the employee for section 2 purposes.

UPDATE: Because of ongoing COVID-19 precautions, remote I-9 document review has been extended; the expiration date for these accommodations is now August 31, 2021.

The government has suspended the in-person and physical inspection of the document(s) presented by the employee when completing the Form I-9. During this time, an employer can view the document(s) presented by the employee via Zoom or Skype, for example.
READ MORE

SUBSTANCE ABUSE TESTING

Alabama
Governor Kay Ivey recently signed Alabama’s medical marijuana law, making Alabama the 37th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. That said, employers are still permitted to establish drug testing and drug-free workplace policies. This new law identifies qualifying medical conditions, including but not limited to autism spectrum disorder (ASD); cancer-related cachexia, nausea or vomiting, weight loss, or chronic pain; Crohn’s disease; depression; epilepsy or a condition causing seizures; and HIV/AIDS-related nausea or weight loss. With recently granted access to medical marijuana, this law will not impose new obligations on employers.
READ MORE

Montana
Montana has legalized marijuana for recreational use, and employers will be prohibited from taking adverse action against employees for lawful use of marijuana outside of work. New law amends the Montana definition of “lawful products” to now include marijuana. That said, employers can continue drug-free workplace policies.
READ MORE

Philadelphia
The city of Philadelphia recently passed an ordinance prohibiting employers from requiring candidates to submit to pre-employment marijuana testing as a condition of employment, effective January 1, 2022. However, this ordinance does not prohibit pre-employment testing of certain types of employees, including police and other law enforcement positions, any position requiring a commercial driver’s license, and any position that requires the supervision or care of children, medical patients, disabled people, and other vulnerable persons.
READ MORE

SALARY DISCLOSURE

Connecticut
On June 7, Connecticut’s Governor signed House Bill Number 6380, requiring employers to disclose to applicants and employees the salary ranges for positions. This law also expands prohibition of gender-based pay discrimination. Under this new law, employers are prohibited from failing or refusing to provide the wage range for a position upon an applicant’s request, or for an employee’s position upon the employee’s request. Employers are recommended to consider implementing policies and practices to comply with the new law by its October 1, 2021 effective date.
READ MORE

DATA PRIVACY

Colorado
Colorado has become the third state in the country to pass a comprehensive data privacy law, joining California and Virginia. The Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) will be effective on July 1, 2023. Similar in nature to California and Virginia privacy laws, the CPA provides extended privacy rights to Colorado consumers: (1) the right to opt out of certain processing of personal data; (2) the right to access personal data; (3) the right to correct inaccurate personal data; (4) the right to delete personal data; and (5) the right to data portability. And, it imposes greater duties on the controllers and processors of those organizations collecting personal data.
READ MORE

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania introduced HB-1126, the Consumer Data Privacy Act (CDPA), creating duty for businesses to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices surrounding the protection of consumer information. And, under the CDPA’s private right of action, consumers may obtain statutory damages of not less than $100 but not more than $750 per consumer per incident, actual damages, and injunctive or declaratory relief.
READ MORE

Questions? We’re here to help!