California workers can continue to rely on protections the California Legislature put in place for employment-related background checks now that the California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act. The employer challenged the Investigative Act as unconstitutional based on the Act’s partial overlap with another background check statute, the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act. The Court rejected this argument and held that employers and other businesses that run background checks are “expected to know and follow the requirements of both statutes.” The Court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals in favor of Eileen Connor, a bus driver aide who served as a bellwether plaintiff on behalf of hundreds of other bus drivers and aides who worked for First Student, Inc. and First Transit, Inc. Their cases will now move forward. Read the full opinion here.
Catha Worthman, Todd Jackson and Genevieve Casey of Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow, along with Hunter Pyle and Tanya Tambling of Hunter Pyle Law, represented Plaintiff-Appellant Connor as well as the other school bus drivers and aides in their cases challenging the unlawful background checks. Amici curiae in support of Connor included the Attorney General of California, Public Good Law Center, Consumer Action, California Reinvestment Coalition, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, National Housing Law Project, A New Way of Life Reentry Project, Bay Area Legal Aid, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, East Bay Community Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates, and many others.
Please contact Catha Worthman or Genevieve Casey with any questions, and for news coverage, see Bloomberg BNA, The Recorder, and Employment Law 360.