California settles with big-box retailers and Dodgers over alleged hiring violations

California’s Civil Rights Department announced settlements Tuesday with Amazon, Ikea and Kohl’s over allegations that the big-box retailers illegally denied jobs to people based on their criminal histories.

Amazon allegedly denied a Bay Area applicant work as a delivery driver because of a conviction that was more than seven years old, while Ikea was accused of failing to justify its stance that a criminal history made an applicant unable to handle a job as a furniture builder in Carson, the Civil Rights Department said.

Another complaint said Kohl’s denied an applicant a job as a warehouse worker in Los Angeles based on criminal history information unlawfully obtained through a questionnaire.

Besides the retailers, California also reached a settlement with the Dodgers for failing to notify an applicant for a guest services job of the specific reason their hire had been blocked, and for failing to provide an opportunity for the applicant to submit evidence challenging the rejection.

The series of settlements marks an effort to enforce the Fair Chance Act, which went into effect in 2018 and limits how an employer can use an applicant’s criminal history when making hiring decisions. The law is intended to reduce barriers to work that people with criminal histories face.

The law prohibits employers with five or more employees from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history before making a conditional job offer, and sets in place specific procedures for considering an applicant’s criminal history after a job offer is made. Under the law, employers can decide against hiring an applicant only if a conviction has a direct link to the responsibilities that come with the job.

The law also requires that companies provide notice of decisions to deny applicants positions on the basis of their conviction histories, and gives applicants the ability to respond to these preliminary decisions.

The Civil Rights Department announced the settlements, which it reached in recent months, in a news release Tuesday. The department said it had also reached deals with a hotel in Sacramento and a private charter jet company in Monterey, both of which were accused of unlawfully considering information that had been sealed, dismissed or expunged from an applicant’s criminal record.

The settlements resolve complaints that rejected job applicants filed with the state last year. After investigating the allegations, the Civil Rights Department gave the companies the chance to settle the violations. Settlements can include payments to complainants to cover lost wages or other harms and agreeing to temporary monitoring by state officials to ensure compliance with the law.

The amount some of the companies paid as part of the settlements were kept confidential, while others are in the range of $15,000 to $18,500, according to copies of the settlement agreements reviewed by The Times.

“Nobody deserves to get locked out of the job market,” said Kevin Kish, director of the Civil Rights Department, according to the news release. “If we want to get serious about helping people get their lives back on track, we owe it to them to give them a chance to make a living. By giving people a pathway forward in their own lives, we’re also doing critical work to ensure public safety in our communities.”

An Amazon spokesperson said he did not have enough information about the settlement and could not yet provide comment. Ikea, Kohl’s and the Dodgers did not respond to requests for comment.

The Civil Rights Department said that since the law went into effect in 2018, it has investigated hundreds of complaints alleging discrimination in employment decisions based on criminal history information and has secured more than 100 settlements.

In one settlement, the Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District agreed to pay nearly $100,000 last year. In 2022, a construction company agreed to pay the same amount after unlawfully denying a group of applicants jobs in 2018 and 2019.

Also last year, the department filed a lawsuit against Ralphs for allegedly denying jobs to hundreds of people based on their criminal history. The grocer allegedly included questions about convictions on its job application in violation of the law.

The department said it also has made efforts to identify and correct online job advertisements that violate the Fair Chance Act, sending notices to businesses to address hundreds of violations.