Date-of-birth redaction causes delays in many California counties
Since 2021, a growing number of counties in California have been redacting date-of-birth from public records in the state. This process has stemmed from the ruling in All of Us or None of Us V. Hamrick that an individual’s date of birth and driver’s license number cannot be used as data identifying a criminal defendant in publicly available records. While some aspects of this ruling is positive in terms of protecting the privacy of individuals, this has a negative impact on the ability of consumer reporting agencies to perform employment background screening on individuals that have lived, worked, or gone to school in the state of California.
The redaction of the date-of-birth from public indexes in many counties in California does not make it impossible to perform employment background screening in California, but it makes it challenging because consumer reporting agencies are required to provide accurate and complete background reports that adhere to the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and a variety of other federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Additionally, employers have their own requirements they must follow from the FCRA, EEOC guidance, and state and local laws and regulations governing how they use the background reports they receive.
What can you expect?
Employers can expect possible significant delays if they order a criminal history search on an individual in any county in California that has redacted date-of-birth from their public indexes. Simplified Screening and other consumer reporting agencies can work with court clerks in these areas to attempt to match potential criminal records to an individual. While Simplified Screening has yet to have a potential criminal record be unable to be verified, there is a possibility that a county criminal history search for a person with a very common name in these counties can result in us being unable to complete the search. If a criminal history search results in the search being unable to be completed, please note this is a result you’d likely get with any background screening provider in these California counties.
What counties are impacted?
Counties that have redacted date-of-birth in California are Amador, Del Norte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Kern, Nevada, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tulare, and Ventura. Some have been easier or harder than others as they have not all fully removed the date-of-birth. Los Angeles County, for example removed only the day of birth in 2021 which made searches in Los Angeles more difficult but not as difficult as counties that removed the entire date-of-birth. However, in February of 2024 Los Angeles County also removed the month and year of birth, making it more difficult and time consuming to verify criminal record findings in the county.
