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Knowing that Microsoft is saying farewell to Internet Explorer 11, NCS will no longer support it after March 31, 2021. Please be aware of this when sharing external links, as recipients may experience degraded performance and may not be able to open the link. National Crime Search recommends using Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or […]

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has signed three bills to amend the city’s Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards (FCRSS) and credit ban ordinances. The amendments go into effect on March 21, 2021 and April 1, 2021. Bill No. 200479 expands the FCRSS ordinance’s definition of covered “employee” to “any person employed or permitted to work at or for […]

In recent years, Illinois’ Ban-the-Box” law disallowed employers from asking about criminal convictions prior to a job offer or before a candidate is selected for an interview. Now Illinois has taken the next step in banning the use of criminal history when making employment decisions. In January, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill 1480, which states […]

The Department of Homeland Security has again extended its flexibility regarding the requirement for employers to physically inspect documents presented for section 2 of the Form I-9. The extension now applies until March 31, 2021. Since March 2020, DHS has extended this policy several times to allow employers whose employees are operating remotely because of […]

The City of St. Louis started 2021 with a ban-the-box ordinance prohibiting employers within the city from making decisions regarding promotions or hiring based on the applicant’s criminal history. Compliance with the ordinance is required for local businesses to obtain a business license. This ordinance applies to employers with 10 or more employees. Employers may […]

As you may know, a number of states have implemented laws restricting the criminal history reporting time frame to 7 years. Because of these laws, we will begin processing all search results returned after 4 p.m. CST Friday, Nov. 6 using the 7-year time frame. There are some exceptions to these rules, however, including salary, hefty credit […]

Many states and localities have enacted ban-the-box laws. On November 1, 2020, North Carolina will join the list. In August, Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 158 to implement fair chance and “ban the box” polices at state agencies to increase job opportunities for ex-offenders. This new law will: Remove criminal history questions from the application for state […]

On September 15, 2020, Hawaii Governor David Ige signed Act 051 (20), a law that changes the lookback period for background checks to seven years for felonies and five years for misdemeanors when making employment decision. However, there are a few exemptions, such as state employees, law enforcement, healthcare workers, teachers and bankers. Hawaii shortened the […]

In March, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deferred the physical presence requirements when reviewing an employee’s documents related to the Form I-9 because of COVID-19 precautions. These accommodations were set to expire on Sept. 19 but have been extended until Nov. 19 because of ongoing precautions. This provision only applies to employers and workplaces […]

On August 18, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 158 adopting Ban-the-Box for state agencies effective November 1, 2020. Private employers are not affected by this order. At this time, state contractors are also not included. When hiring, the following cannot be considered: expunged records, pardoned conviction, arrests not resulting in a conviction and charges resulting in […]