The City of Spokane Adopts “Ban the Address” Giving Extra Protection to Job Applicants
On April 25th, Spokane Mayor, Lisa Brown, signed the Ban the Address ordinance which is reportedly the first in the country to prohibit discrimination against job applicants based upon housing status. The ordinance expands fair chance hiring requirements and is intended to protect homeless job applicants. Employers will be generally prohibited from requiring an applicant to provide their address on a job application. Employers will also be restricted from inquiring more generally into an applicant’s housing status until after a provisional job offer is made. Once a provisional offer of employment is made, an employer may then inquire into an applicant’s address or residence history.
The Ban the Address provisions also prohibit employers from rejecting applicants “solely because they do not have a fixed or regular residence, or because the individual is homeless or unhoused, or because the individual lives on the streets, in a shelter, or in a temporary residence, unless housing status has a bona fide and legitimate relation to the primary duties of the job and such rejections or disqualification would also violate state or federal employment laws or regulations.”
Notably, the ordinance does not apply in certain instances, including: where employees will have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable populations; where employers are permitted or required by federal or state law to inquire into, consider or rely on information regarding arrest or conviction records in relation to employment; in relations to certain law enforcement agencies; and where criminal background checks are specifically permitted or required under state or federal law.
The ordinance will go into effect 30 days from the date it was signed.
If you are an employer within the City of Spokane, it will be important to review your application process and make any necessary adjustments to conform to the new ordinance. The ban the address provisions will amend SMC 09.02 regarding Employment Standards and Fair Chance Hiring.