Arnall Golden Gregory LLP is pleased to provide you with the Compliance News Flash, which includes current news briefs relevant to background screening, immigration and data privacy, for the benefit and interest of our clients as well as employers and consumer reporting agencies generally.
-
President Trump has issued another immigration-related proclamation, a Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak. The proclamation temporarily suspends immigration of skilled workers receiving H-1B, H-2B, L-1, J-1, and dependent visas for family members. President Trump indicated that he issued this proclamation to protect American jobs during the period of high unemployment resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The proclamation also extends President Trump’s April 22, 2020 proclamation that restricted the entry of certain new green card holders to the United States. The current proclamation took effect on June 24, 2020 and will remain in effect until December 31, 2020, unless otherwise indicated by the Trump Administration. Click here to read AGG’s insights on the proclamation and here to read the proclamation.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Compliance Aid to assist in interpreting the consumer reporting requirements of the CARES Act as well as the CFPB’s Policy Statement on Supervisory and Enforcement Practices Regarding the FCRA and Regulation V in light of the CARES Act. The Compliance Aid takes the form of ten FAQs. While the FAQs focus mostly on furnishers, one of the FAQs addresses the enforcement of the statutory deadlines for completing FCRA Section 611 reinvestigations by furnishers and consumer reporting agencies. Question 3 of the FAQs indicates that consumer reporting agencies do not have an “unlimited time beyond the statutory deadlines,” must conduct reinvestigations “in a timely fashion,” and the CFPB expects consumer reporting agencies to “make good faith efforts to investigate disputes as quickly as possible when they are impacted by COVID-19.” The CFPB recognizes that many consumer reporting agencies are “facing unique challenges” and reiterates that it will look at enforcement on a case-by-case basis to “evaluate individually the efforts and circumstances of each furnisher and consumer reporting agency in determining if it made good faith efforts to investigate disputes as quickly as possible.” Click here to read the Compliance Aid. Also, click here for our previous News Flash on the CARES Act and related CFPB Policy Statement.
- The California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is set to begin enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on July 1, 2020. Despite requests from businesses to delay the enforcement date in light of COVID-19, the OAG will move forward with enforcement beginning next week. According to the OAG, “CCPA has been in effect since January 1, 2020. We’re committed to enforcing the law starting July 1. We encourage businesses to be particularly mindful of data security in this time of emergency.” Click here to read more.
- The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) has officially received the requisite number of signatures to appear on California’s General Election ballot in November 2020. The CPRA would amend and expand the CCPA. According to early polling by Californians for Consumer Privacy (the activist group behind the CPRA and the CCPA), approximately 9 in 10 Californians would vote to support the ballot measure. If approved, the CPRA would become operative on January 1, 2023. The CPRA would establish a new category of “sensitive personal information;” expand data breach liability to include the compromise of a consumer’s email address in combination with a password or security question and answer; grant consumers a right to request correction of inaccurate personal information held by businesses; strengthen the opt-in requirement; increase the penalty for the sale or sharing of children’s data; and establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to handle enforcement instead of the California Attorney General’s Office. Additionally, the CPRA would extend the CCPA’s temporary exemptions for employment-related data. Click here to view the statewide ballot measures for California’s November 3, 2020 general election and search for #1879 (19-0021A1).
- The Georgia House of Representatives and Senate both voted to pass a second-chance hiring bill that would increase options for restricting access to criminal records. Senate Bill 288 would allow some misdemeanors, particularly those that are not violent or sexual in nature, to be restricted and sealed as long as the offender has not committed another offense within four years. The bill would also allow an individual to petition the court to restrict certain felony convictions if the individual has been pardoned for the offense and has had no convictions since receiving the pardon. The bill includes significant liability protections for employers who hire individuals with a criminal history who have had their record restricted. The bill now awaits Governor Kemp’s signature. Similar laws exist in 41 other states. Click here to read more.
 |
Montserrat C. Miller |
 |
Erin E. Doyle |
The information presented provides a general summary and/or recent legal and regulatory developments. It is not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as legal advice.