CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 76 GIVE PEEPS A CHANCE Civil Rights Department Sues Ralphs For Violating Fair Chance Act « Law Offices of Timothy Bowles | Top Employment Law Firm in Los Angeles

CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 76
GIVE PEEPS A CHANCE
Civil Rights Department Sues Ralphs For Violating Fair Chance Act

The Fair Chance Act, California Government Code 12952 (also known as Ban-the-Box),  prohibits employers of five or more people from asking for criminal background information until after a conditional job offer to an applicant.  It also requires individual assessments of a person’s criminal record against job description and allowing the person a chance to respond to any employer decisions based on criminal history.

California’s Civil Rights Department has now filed suit against Ralphs for Fair Chance violations, asserting the supermarket chain:

  • used improper questions in seeking criminal history,
  • failed to individually assess each applicant’s responses,
  • withdrew job offers without appropriate notification or opportunity to respond, and
  • disqualified hundreds of applicants for minor crimes unrelated to being a grocery worker.

The CRD is seeking a jury trial to recover lost wages, benefits, and emotional distress and punitive damages.  It also seeks to require Ralphs’ future compliance with the Fair Chance Act.

Kevin Kish, Director of the CRD, said:

“The Fair Chance Act is about giving every Californian an opportunity to thrive. When roughly 70 million Americans have some sort of record, policies like those employed by Ralphs aren’t just discriminatory and against California law, they don’t make sense. We can’t expect people to magically gain the economic and housing stability needed to reintegrate into their communities and stay out of the criminal legal system without a fair chance at steady employment, particularly when the job has nothing to do with a past offense. Ralphs has continued to unlawfully deny jobs to qualified candidates and that’s why we’re taking them to court.”

As part of its efforts to enforce the Fair Chance Act, the CRD also reviews job advertisements online, notifying violators to correct their advertising.

Take-Aways:

Employers need to learn the requirements of the Fair Chance Act and incorporate them into their hiring practices to provide qualified former offenders a road back to being productive members of society.

For further information, please contact Tim BowlesCindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

Helena Kobrin
January 26, 2024

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