Philadelphia’s mayor signed amendments to the city’s Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance (FCRSSO) into law on October 8th. The amendments go into effect January 6, 2026.
Overview of the amendments
Definitions: - New definitions for terms such as felony, misdemeanor, summary offense and incarceration. - Adverse action has been redefined to mean any action that negatively affects an applicant or employee’s compensation, terms, or condition of current or future work.
Individualized assessment language broadened: - Employers may not exclude applicants or employees unless, based on the individualized assessment performed, a reasonable person could conclude employing the individual would pose a specific unacceptable risk to the operation of the business or to coworkers or customers, as independently determined by the factfinder. - Factors that must be considered as part of the individualized assessment were broadened to include specific examples of evidence of rehabilitation, such as completion of a job training program and service to the community.
Adverse action impacts: - Prior to taking adverse action, the employer must provide notice, which must include: * Identification of the specific convictions considered * Copy of the background report or criminal record used * A summary of the individual’s rights under the FCRSSO * Statement that the employer will consider evidence of any error in the criminal history records and evidence of rehabilitation and mitigation if provided by the individual, including a list of the types of evidence that may be offered * Instruction as to how the individual can exercise their right to provide evidence or explanation directly to the employer. - Note: the 10 business day waiting period between the pre-adverse and final adverse action notice did not change.
Criminal records reporting restrictions extended: - Misdemeanor convictions older than 4 years - Expunged, sealed or otherwise restricted criminal records - Summary offenses - Currently employers may not consider felony convictions older than 7 years. This provisions continues in the FCRSSO.
There are additional aspects of the FCRSSO that have been amended. We encourage impacted clients to review the amendments in full with qualified legal counsel.
Asurint’s action items: Asurint is taking the following actions in response to these amendments:
Criminal record reporting: - By the effective date, we will implement system logic to automatically redact misdemeanor convictions older than 4 years. Asurint already has logic in place to redact felony convictions older than 7 years, and does not report summary offenses, or expunged or sealed records.
Adverse action: - We are evaluating a sample pre-adverse action notice that addresses the amended requirements. This includes the summary of rights under the FCRSSO. The Philadelphia Commission Human Relations is authorized to issue regulations and create forms for employers to consider. We are tracking the Commission’s activity in the event sample forms become available. - By the effective date, we will update our adverse action logic to require a “specific reason” for any orders where the individual’s submitted address falls within Philadelphia. This will prompt the user to the select the criminal history information from the report which will then populate into the pre-adverse action letter.
Please feel free to contact our Compliance team at compliance@asurint.com if you have additional questions regarding the FCRSSO amendments. We will be in touch once we have additional information regarding sample pre-adverse action letter updates.
Posted Oct 13, 2025 - 16:49 EDT
This incident affects: Asurint | Background Screening Platform.