Wednesday, February 3, 2021
On December 10, 2020, the New York City Council amended New York City’s Fair Chance Act (FCA), also known as the “ban the box” law. The recently enacted amendments will take effect on July 29, 2021.
Relevant Fair Chance Factors
The current New York City FCA regulations apply to an applicant’s arrest and conviction history and contain eight factors that are essentially the same as those set forth in the New York State Correction Law, Article 23-A, for analyzing whether an employer may “take adverse action against any applicant” based on the applicant’s arrest and conviction history. The new amendments add “relevant fair chance factors” that extend the FCA’s coverage to additional scenarios beyond an applicant’s arrest and conviction history. The newly enacted relevant fair chance factors apply to (i) applicants with pending arrests, (ii) employees pending arrests, and (iii) employees with criminal convictions. The new F