Manage HR Magazine | Tuesday, September 24, 2024
The legal landscape for enterprises nationwide is expected to shift dramatically by 2024. What that setting will look like a year from now is impossible to predict. However, trends like relaxed marijuana restrictions, an updated FCRA, increased privacy rules, continued disparate court theories, and regulated AI use provide a critical starting point for businesses to stay informed and prepared for adaptation.
Fremont, CA: Running background checks on construction workers has never been easier, and 2024 will be the same. Employers around the country will continue to deal with an ever-changing world of rules and regulations, requiring both awareness and forethought to navigate confidently.
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Proceeding without attention and care is likely to result in issues for even the most compliant of previous policies; it is now, as always, in the best interests of every construction business to stay up to date on the newest advances in background check regulations.
While tracking such advancements is a continuous process, the five patterns outlined below indicate where employers should look as we approach 2024. These areas are anticipated to undergo considerable change in the following months, with significant implications for the background screening process.
Stringent Marijuana Screening
While this is not surprising, strengthening marijuana screening rules will continue to be a significant trend in 2024. As additional states allow recreational marijuana use, most recently Minnesota and Ohio, restrictions on testing for, inquiring about, and evaluating marijuana use for employment will undoubtedly follow.
States that have already implemented such reforms are more inclined to adopt new, progressive rules. New legislation went into effect on January 1 in states such as California and Washington, prohibiting employers from examining pre-employment records of usage, including criminal histories in California and any off-duty activity. The trendline suggests that additional states may follow in their footsteps.
Updates on FCRA
The federal government, through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is now amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a key piece of legislation governing job background checks. One of the more recent revisions was a 2023 update to the Summary of Rights' Final Rule.
While these modifications may initially appear small, ranging from vocabulary changes to changing contact information, the early 2024 compliance deadline requires companies to follow and, more importantly, present the amended version to specific candidates. Awareness of this change and any future modifications is critical for construction businesses looking to avoid lawsuits.
Increasing Privacy Regulations
The various limits on marijuana screening noted in Trend No. 1 are only one example of the vastly different laws that affect background checks between states. Privacy concerns are another significant example. Because there is presently no federal privacy statute, state-by-state legislation differs greatly.
That specific challenge will get much more difficult in 2024 when the states of Washington, Texas, Oregon, Florida, and Montana all plan to enact new privacy rules limiting the use of human resource data. These restrictions will influence how construction companies gather, keep, and use employee data. As the year passes, many businesses may need to adjust to these developments and reconsider how such information is used.
Continuing Disparate Court Interpretations
Court rulings, by definition, establish precedent and are thus worthy of any employer's attention. This is especially relevant in light of increasingly varying interpretations by local and federal courts of current rules governing how companies may conduct background checks.
One notable example of such divergent interpretation is the FCRA Act, which requires consent from an existing employee or a job prospect before businesses may take specific measures during the screening process. Court rulings on this matter have varied over time and location, leaving businesses needing clarification on what permits they require or do not require. Building companies should pay attention to the most recent municipal and federal decisions in that and other cases.
Regulated AI Usage
As the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for efficient employment grows more popular, state legislatures enact rules to safeguard candidates and employees from discriminating software. These rules can potentially limit the use of "decision-making" AI, particularly by establishing guidelines for what AI can examine when advancing or declining an application.
Certain states, such as New York, have passed legislation requiring any such human resources decision-making technologies to pass a biased audit. Because AI is a relatively new region, construction companies will benefit from paying close attention to legal changes in this quickly expanding field.
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