Bill Text: NY A07735 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to correction [A07735 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A07735-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7735 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 17, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. FERNANDEZ -- 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 22 to read as follows: 3 22. (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 22 that requires criminal background checks for employment purposes or bars 23 employment based on criminal history. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11240-03-9A. 7735 2 1 (d) (i) Upon extending a job offer to an applicant, an employer, 2 employment agency or agent thereof may perform an inquiry related to the 3 arrest record or conviction record of the recipient of such job offer. 4 (ii) If such an employer, employment agency or agent thereof revokes a 5 job offer based on the result of an inquiry related to the arrest record 6 or conviction record of the recipient of a job offer, the employer shall 7 provide a written explanation of the reason such offer is being revoked. 8 Such written explanation shall include a printed copy of any report 9 indicating the arrest record or conviction record of the recipient of a 10 job offer. 11 (iii) An applicant having a job offer revoked pursuant to this subdi- 12 vision shall have five business days to respond to the report indicating 13 the arrest record or conviction record of such applicant. 14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.