ATLANTA – State Representative Kevin Levitas (D- Atlanta) today pre-filed legislation to protect workers and the public from harm by allowing employers and law enforcement agencies to conduct more thorough background checks of job applicants.
Rep. Levitas said that under current state law, many employers asked about their former employees are withholding potentially critical information about these workers because the employers are concerned about being sued over divulging the information.
“This is an issue about workplace and public safety,” said Rep. Levitas. “Law enforcement agencies have expressed to the General Assembly their frustration about being unable to obtain accurate and detailed information about those who would be armed by the government, given arrest powers and charged with protecting the citizens of Georgia.”
Rep. Levitas added that, “Businesses have also shared their concerns about being unable to properly screen employees who might engage in workplace violence or harassment. This legislation would allow for the free flow of good-faith, honest, and accurate information, making citizens safer on the job and in their homes.”
Rep. Levitas said that while his bill would shield from suit employers providing accurate information about a current or former employee’s job performance or reasons for the employee’s termination, an employer must act in good faith and could not disclose information that was knowingly false and deliberately misleading. Levitas noted that such a provision would guard an employee against the malicious acts of an employer who provides information that the employer knows is not true.
Rep. Levitas noted that so-called “information releases” submitted to employers do not protect them from disgruntled former employees who sue them over unfavorable disclosures about their work histories.
Rep. Levitas’ bill will be assigned a number and then referred to a House committee when the General Assembly convenes in January.
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Representative Kevin Levitas represents the citizens of District 82, which includes portions of DeKalb County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2005, and currently serves on the Judiciary Non-Civil, Science and Technology, Transportation, and Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committees.