Bill > AB2095

This bill, amending California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, aims to strengthen protections against employment discrimination based on conviction history for employers with five or more employees. It clarifies that employers cannot ask about or consider an applicant's conviction history until after a conditional job offer has been made, and prohibits asking for consent for a background check or starting one before providing a list of essential job duties. The bill also prevents employers from charging applicants for background checks and restricts the types of conviction and arrest information they can consider, including those that have been sealed, dismissed, or expunged. Crucially, if an employer intends to deny employment based on conviction history, they must now conduct a good-faith, individualized assessment to demonstrate a direct and adverse relationship between the conviction and the job duties, and document this assessment in writing. The bill also establishes a rebuttable presumption that the relationship is not sufficiently direct and adverse if the applicant has completed their sentence or holds a required professional license. While some exemptions for positions requiring background checks by law remain, the bill removes the exemption for farm labor contractors and adds stricter requirements for other exemptions.