San Francisco tightens fair chance hiring rules for employers

San Francisco’s amended Fair Chance Ordinance will take effect Aug. 10, adding new limits on how employers can screen applicants with out-of-state criminal records tied to abortion-related healthcare, drag performances and gender-affirming care. The Board of Supervisors passed the changes July 7, and Mayor Daniel Lurie signed them July 10.

The ordinance already covers employers with 5 or more employees worldwide and all City contractors. Under city guidance, employers may not ask about arrests or convictions on a job application, and they may not run a background check or ask about criminal records until after they make a conditional offer of employment. The city's June 2025 poster limits employers to convictions directly related to the job and bars some categories of arrests or convictions, including convictions more than 7 years old.

The new rules go further by restricting certain out-of-state records that were not previously treated the same as California records. San Francisco will bar employers from inquiring into or relying on out-of-state criminal convictions or arrests for conduct that is lawful in California, including abortion-related healthcare, drag performances and gender-affirming care. Checkr pegs those changes at no defined lookback period.

A Mission District cafe with 12 workers cannot ask whether an applicant was arrested in another state for a drag performance, and a background check cannot be used to disqualify that applicant after a conditional offer if the conduct is lawful in California. A City contractor bidding on work in San Francisco would face the same limits if it screens applicants under the ordinance.

The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement administers the law, and the city has published an employer toolkit and poster to help businesses update job postings, application forms and screening practices. The National Employment Law Project counts ban-the-box rules in 37 states and more than 150 cities and counties.