In 2014, background checks were a hot topic in state and local legislatures. Before this year, only 8 jurisdictions in the country had passed laws preventing private employers from asking job candidates about their criminal histories on an employment application (i.e., “banning the box”). This year alone, however, 9 jurisdictions enacted ban-the-box laws
Rhode Island, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma are the latest states to provide prospective and/or current employees with increased social media protections. Read this special report to learn more about the new laws and the implications for covered employers.
In this issue:
On August 1, 2014, Louisiana’s “Personal Online Account Protection Act,” codified as La. Rev. Stat. §§ 28:1951-1955, went into effect. Louisiana has joined sixteen other states that have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting employers from accessing employees’ personal online accounts – including social media (Twitter, Facebook or similar sites), email accounts, or any other online
Tennessee’s governor recently signed three new employment laws. The first, a social media law, takes effect on January 1, 2015,and provides applicants and employees with social media protections similar to those in fifteen other states.The second, a negligent hiring and retention law, designed to provide a measure of protection to employers that hire and retain