Our partners at Quest Diagnostics posted about the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Testing Programs – Oral/Fluid which was published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS, on October 25, 2019. The guidelines take effect on January 1, 2020 and we wanted to be sure to share it with you.

There has been a lot of backlash over H.R.8 - Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 being stalled in the Senate for months. The tragic school shooting yesterday created even more fervor, exemplified by the fact that the bill was being debated as the shooting was occurring. If you would like more information, we found several articles discussing the topic, here, here, and here.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect on January 1, 2020. The Act was first passed in 2018, so chances are you’ve heard and/or read about it for months now - and thought you’d heard enough. We just wanted to call attention to how the CCPA may affect employers.

Law 360 reports that Dollar General and the EEOC filed a motion to settle a suit that was originally filed more than 6 years ago. In the suit the EEOC claims Dollar General’s applicant screening process creates disparate impact on black applicants. The Law 360 post states that Dollar General defends their process and denies any discrimination against African-Americans. The article goes on to say that Dollar General’s belief is that the EEOC claims are unfounded, but they are happy to have a resolution, and will continue to employ steps to ensure the safety of property, customers and employees. Law 360 also reports that the motion filed includes a $6 million settlement payment by Dollar General. The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. DolGenCorp LLC (1:13-cv-04307), District Court, N.D. Illinois, and more information can be found here.

We’ve delved into this topic several times in recent months, discussing the possible perils and benefits of social media screening of candidates. The National Law Review posted an informative article this week titled “To Stalk or Not to Stalk….That Is the Question – Using Social Media for Applicant Review.” The focus of the article is social media screening, and they included some great best practice tips when using social media to screen applicants.