At its regularly scheduled April 25 meeting, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will vote on new enforcement guidance on the use of criminal background checks in pre-employment hiring decisions. It is expected that the new guidelines will considerably strengthen the existing 1987 standards, making it more difficult for employers to use such checks to block individuals from being hired.

Also on the agenda is enforcement guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship exemptions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Again, the EEOC is expected to up the bar for employers on denying reasonable accommodations for the disabled because of undue hardship to the employing company.