Court forces Torrance to open Fair Chance Act hiring files

It started with a custodian applicant who got a contingent job offer from Torrance in September 2022. A background check turned up multiple convictions. The city pulled the offer. The applicant complained to California’s Civil Rights Department, alleging discrimination based on his criminal record under the Fair Chance Act. 

That law – Government Code section 12952 – stops employers from asking about conviction history before making a conditional job offer. After the offer, a background check is allowed, but the employer can only rescind it after conducting what the statute calls an “individualized assessment” – weighing the seriousness of the offenses, how long ago they occurred, and how relevant they are to the job. 

Torrance said it followed the rules. It told the CRD the applicant’s 2019 conviction for fighting in a public place was recent and relevant enough to a custodian role – one involving daily public interaction – to justify the decision. It accepted his explanations on older convictions, finding them dismissed, rehabilitated, or too dated to count. 

The CRD was not done. It opened a broader probe, alleging the city had a pattern of disqualifying applicants without proper assessments – covering 23 applicants whose records were reviewed the same way. 

When the CRD asked for assessment templates and evaluation documents, Torrance refused. An in-house attorney had helped prepare the assessments, the templates contained the attorney’s “conclusions of what the law requires,” and the city claimed privilege.