Three ways NYC employers break the Fair Chance Act
The law applies to most NYC employers with four or more workers. If any of these happened to you, it's worth a free look.
Asking too early
Questions about your record on the application, in the interview, or a job ad that says "no felonies," "clean record required," or "background check required" — all before a job offer. That's off-limits.
Pulling an offer the wrong way
After a conditional offer, an employer can only take it back over your record by following the Fair Chance Process — a written analysis, a copy of the background check, and time for you to respond. Skip a step and it may be a violation.
Punishing you on the job
Since 2021, the law also protects current employees. You can't be fired or disciplined over a pending case or an old conviction without the same individualized review and a real chance to respond.
Some records are always off-limits. Employers can never use sealed cases, most dismissed or "ACD" cases, youthful-offender matters, violations, or arrests that never led to a conviction. If they held any of these against you, that alone can be a violation.
Brooklyn's warehouses, distribution centers, hospitals, and restaurants run background checks constantly — and they're some of the most common places Fair Chance Act violations happen. If a Brooklyn employer used your record the wrong way, the law is on your side.
How it's supposed to go
If an employer wants to use your record, the law forces them onto a specific path. Miss a step, and you may have a claim.
Offer first
They review your experience, references, and skills and make a conditional job offer — before any talk of your record.
Then they can ask
Only after the offer can they ask about convictions or run a criminal background check — with your permission.
Written analysis
To pull the offer, they must weigh the specific legal factors, put it in writing, and hand you that analysis plus the background report.
Your chance to respond
They must hold the job open and give you time (generally at least five business days) to respond before making a final call.
The law puts real money behind your fair chance.
Every case is different, but when an employer breaks the Fair Chance Act, the NYC Human Rights Law allows for remedies such as:
- ✓ Back pay and lost wages from the job you were denied
- ✓ The job itself, or other equitable relief
- ✓ Money for emotional distress, plus possible punitive damages
- ✓ Your attorney's fees — and the City can fine the employer on top
A NYC firm, not a call center
Madison Law Firm PLLC is on Fifth Avenue. Your case is handled here — under the NYC Human Rights Law, the strongest of its kind in the country.
We speak your language
English and Español, one number, real people who pick up. No judgment about your record — that's the whole point of the law.
Nothing upfront
The consultation is free and confidential. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Fair Chance Act, in plain English
Yes — it covers most Brooklyn employers with four or more employees, in Sunset Park, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatbush, Bay Ridge, and East New York and everywhere in between. A few roles are exempt (law enforcement, or jobs a law bars for certain convictions). We'll tell you which bucket you're in.
No. Sealed cases and non-convictions are off-limits to employers, so you don't have to share them. You only have to answer about actual convictions after a job offer, if asked.
Before a conditional offer, that's generally not allowed in NYC — and neither is a job ad or application that mentions criminal history. That timing alone can support a claim.
That's only allowed if they followed the Fair Chance Process and showed a real, direct link between your record and the job (or a genuine safety risk). If they didn't, it may be illegal.
Deadlines are strict and depend on where you file — the NYC Commission on Human Rights or court. Don't wait to find out. A quick call now protects your options.
Nothing. The review is free and confidential, and we work these cases with no fee unless we win.
Your record isn't the whole story. NYC law agrees.
Tell us what happened. Free, confidential, and no fee unless we win.