Utah Employment Selection Procedures Act - Effective May 12, 2009

Effective May 12, 2009, Utah has implemented the Employment Selection Procedures Act. This new law generally applies to employers with over 15 employees in the state of Utah and limits the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) an employer may require an applicant to provide in pre-hire settings.

The employer may not request information related to an applicant's social security number, date or birth or driver license number until either:

1) The applicant is offered a job; or

2) The time when the employer obtains a criminal background check, credit check, or driving record check to which the applicant has consented.

Employers subject to this law may also not use any PII for any purpose other than to determine whether the employer will hire the applicant as an employee. In addition, the law additionally places requirements for employers to maintain a policy regarding the retention, disposition, access, and confidentiality of this information. Employers must provide the applicant an opportunity to review the employer's policy before being required to provide information as part of the initial selection process. Finally, employers may only keep such information about applicants about whom they do not hire for a period of two years after obtaining the information from the applicant.