Nevada Law Removes 7 Year Reporting Restriction

This month a law was passed in the State of Nevada that removed the restriction of only reporting information from the last 7 years on a background check.  This law directly impacts any consumer reporting agencies that conduct business in Nevada.

Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval signed S.B. 409 into law, which revised the law pertaining to the information reported on background checks prepared by CRA’s in the state. While this bill contains several parts to it, the most notable is the part that pertains to CRA’s and the information that can be reported to employers. For years, Nevada has followed the rule that an employment background check can only provide information within a 7 year span, which is a standard for California and many other states. S.B. 409 removes this restriction, and now Nevada has no time limitation for which a criminal conviction may be reported.

While this will help employers to see beyond the 7 year window and provide them with a much bigger picture of who they are hiring, it could prove to be problematic for those seeking employment in Nevada. The EEOC still mandates that employers consider the relevance of criminal convictions and the amount of time that has passed to the job being applied for, and this 7 year restriction limited the amount of criminal information that employers would receive. With this restriction lifted, more information can be seen on a candidate, and more information can be used to deny employment if the employer so chooses.

For any business in Nevada, it’s important to remember the EEOC guidelines when considering criminal information. For companies that are outside of Nevada, it’s important to remember that this is a state specific law, and it’s important to know your own state laws when considering information obtained via a background check.