Labor & Employment partner Richard Steer and associate Jonathan Hershberg co-authored a March 16 New York Law Journal article with David Mederrick, the president and CEO of Team Screening titled, “Employee Background Checks: The New Compliance Arena.” In the article, the authors highlight the ways in which the Fair Credit Reporting Act and New York’s “Fair Chance Act” stand as a minefield for employers – and a potential goldmine for the plaintiffs’ bar. Each of these statutes is intended to ensure that employers judge job applicants on their comparative qualifications before they consider their conviction histories, but seemingly minor violations of either one can bring significant, rapidly escalating penalties. The authors caution that when it comes to pre-employment background checks, employers are well advised to tread carefully and to seek guidance from legal counsel or another qualified professional.