January

"U.S. Senator Tom Udall announced that he is co-sponsoring the Child Protection Improvements and Electronic Life and Safety Security Systems Act, that would enable children's groups, summer camps, and other youth-serving non-profit associations to gain access to federal criminal background checks on new employees and volunteers. ""We need to do everything we can to keep our sons and daughters safe from violent predators, and organizations like the Girls Scouts should be able to access this federal background check data to fully screen applicants for jobs that serve our children,"" said Udall. """

"A new District of Columbia law, Fair Criminal Record Screening Amendment Act of 2014(Act Number A20-0422), prohibits employers from inquiring into a prospective employee's criminal conviction background on its application and before making a conditional offer of employment. Under the new law an employer may withdraw a conditional offer of employment to an applicant based on criminal conviction information only for a ""legitimate business reason."" The reason must be reasonable in light of the six factors listed in the Act, including: 1) the specific duties and responsibilities related to the job sought, 2) the bearing the crime will have on the applicant's ability to perform his or her job duties, 3) the time elapsed since the occurrence of the criminal offense, 4) the age of the applicant at the time of the crime, 5) the frequency and seriousness of the crime, and 6) information produced by the applicant establishing rehabilitation or good conduct. The new law likely will become effective in early October, after a 30-day period of Congressional review and publication in the District of Columbia Register."

"The Americans with Disabilities Act (""ADA"") makes it unlawful for an employer to either require its employees to undergo medical examinations or make disability-related inquiries that cannot be justified as ""job related and consistent with business necessity."" The statute, however, expressly provides that testing an employee for illegal drug use is not a ""medical examination"" that must be justified under this standard. But what about an employer, who, because of safety concerns, requires employees to be tested for substances for which the employee has a valid prescription? Does such a test constitute a medical examination or a disability-related inquiry? InBates v. Dura Automotive Systems, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit the Court concluded that whether testing for prescription drugs constitutes a medical examination or a disability-related inquiry for ADA purposes depends on the specific facts of the case at hand and, ultimately, may be an issue for a jury to resolve. It is clear that this is an area where employers must tread carefully."