October

After a battle of motions between the parties, a Wisconsin federal judge dismissed a proposed class action for alleged violations under the FCRA against Cory Groshek.

Why is this important? Well, some of you may be familiar with Groshek as he is a noted (some may say serial) plaintiff who has filed multiple lawsuits and|or sent demand letters to employers alleging violations of the FCRA. Groshek 's master plan was to apply for employment and get to the point where the hiring entity would provide him with the FCRA required disclosure and authorization as part of the background chec |investigation.

From there, the alleged FCRA violations began either in the form of a lawsuit or a demand letter. In one such case, the judge put the brakes on this case noting that nowhere in plaintiff 's complaint did he allege any concrete harm suffered as a result of the alleged violation.

"Two recent studies claim that "ban the box" policies enacted around the country detrimentally affect the employment of young men of color who do not have a conviction record.

The nation cannot afford to turn back the clock on a decade of reform that has created significant job opportunities for people with records. Review of the studies leads to these top-line conclusions:
(1) The core problem raised by the studies is not ban-the-box but entrenched racism in the hiring process, which manifests as racial profiling of African Americans as ""criminals.""
(2) Ban-the-box is working, both by increasing employment opportunities for people with records and by changing employer attitudes toward hiring people with records.
(3) When closely scrutinized, the new studies do not support the conclusion that ban-the-box policies are responsible for the depressed hiring of African Americans.
(4) The studies highlight the need for a more robust policy response to both boost job opportunities for people with records and tackle race discrimination in the hiring process is not a repeal of ban-the-box laws."

On August 1, 2016 the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) started accepting self-certifications for compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles. A number of companies have already started the process to self-certify with the DOC to take advantage of the grace period offered to early adopters of the Principles to get contracts with third parties updated. If a company self-certifies to Privacy Shield within the first two months of the DOC accepting certifications (August 1 - September 30), those companies will be given an additional nine (9) months to get their contracts with third parties updated to meet Privacy Shield requirements. During that time, the Notice and Choice Principles apply to transfers to third parties. The grace period only applies to the Accountability for Onward Transfer Principle. The company needs to be in full compliance with the remaining Principles to self-certify.