Prohibits certain inquiries or statements related to the arrest record or conviction record of any person who is in the process of applying for employment or interviewing for employment.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3726
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 7, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, REYES, CRUZ, SAYEGH, SIMON, WILLIAMS,
DARLING, HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting certain
inquiries or statements related to the arrest record or conviction
record of any person who is in the process of applying for employment
or interviewing for employment
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 296 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 23 to read as follows:
3 23. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any
4 employer, employment agency or agent thereof to make any inquiry or
5 statement related to the arrest record or conviction record of any
6 person who is in the process of applying for employment or interviewing
7 for employment with such employer or agent thereof. For purposes of this
8 subdivision "any inquiry" means any question communicated to an appli-
9 cant in writing or otherwise, or any searches of publicly available
10 records or consumer reports that are conducted for the purpose of
11 obtaining an applicant's criminal background information. For purposes
12 of this subdivision, "any statement" means a statement communicated in
13 writing or otherwise to the applicant for purposes of obtaining an
14 applicant's criminal background information regarding: (i) an arrest
15 record; (ii) a conviction record; or (iii) a criminal background check.
16 (b) An applicant shall not be required to respond to any inquiry or
17 statement that violates paragraph (a) of this subdivision and any
18 refusal to respond to such inquiry or statement shall not disqualify an
19 applicant from the prospective employment.
20 (c) This subdivision shall not apply to any actions taken by an
21 employer or agent thereof pursuant to any state, federal or local law
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00660-01-3
A. 3726 2
1 that requires criminal background checks for employment purposes or bars
2 employment based on criminal history.
3 (d) (i) Upon extending a job offer to an applicant, an employer,
4 employment agency or agent thereof may perform an inquiry related to the
5 arrest record or conviction record of the recipient of such job offer.
6 (ii) If such an employer, employment agency or agent thereof revokes a
7 job offer based on the result of an inquiry related to the arrest record
8 or conviction record of the recipient of a job offer, the employer shall
9 provide a written explanation of the reason such offer is being revoked.
10 Such written explanation shall include a printed copy of any report
11 indicating the arrest record or conviction record of the recipient of a
12 job offer.
13 (iii) An applicant having a job offer revoked pursuant to this subdi-
14 vision shall have five business days to respond to the report indicating
15 the arrest record or conviction record of such applicant.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
