Understanding the Expanded Fair Chance Ordinance in San Francisco
Updated: 3 days ago
San Francisco expanded its Fair Chance Ordinance (FCO) effective August 10, 2026. This change impacts employers and affordable housing providers that consider criminal-history information in their hiring or housing decisions.
The amendment—San Francisco Ordinance No. 128-26—introduces new protections for certain out-of-state arrests and convictions. It also increases potential administrative penalties and available liquidated damages for violations.
This isn't a blanket rule for every employer or landlord. If your organization hires for covered San Francisco roles or operates affordable housing in the city, your screening and decision workflows should reflect this update.
What Changed on August 10, 2026?
Covered employers and affordable housing providers can no longer use an out-of-state arrest or conviction related to lawful conduct in California. This includes:
Abortion-related healthcare
Gender-affirming care
Drag performances
Spontaneous abortion, including miscarriage-related conduct
While the rule doesn't prohibit all uses of out-of-state criminal records, it specifically restricts records in these categories when the underlying conduct is lawful in California. For more details, check San Francisco’s official Fair Chance Ordinance guidance.
Who's Covered?
The employment provisions generally apply to employers with five or more employees located or doing business in San Francisco. This applies when a position involves at least eight hours of work per week in the city.
Coverage includes:
Full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, and contingent positions
Contractors and commission-based workers
Workers placed through staffing or employment agencies
Certain vocational or educational training arrangements
Hybrid and remote arrangements that meet the San Francisco work-location requirement
Covered employers cannot ask about or consider criminal history until after making a conditional offer of employment.
Existing Employment Rules Still Apply
The 2026 amendment adds to—not replaces—the existing FCO requirements. Covered employers must continue to avoid considering prohibited information, including:
Arrests that did not lead to a conviction, except unresolved arrests
Diversion or deferred-judgment participation
Expunged, dismissed, invalidated, or inoperative convictions
Juvenile records
Infractions
Many convictions older than seven years, unless the position supervises minors or dependent adults
Decriminalized conduct, including non-commercial cannabis conduct
Employers must also use the required Fair Chance language in job ads, post the official FCO notice, and provide this notice to applicants or employees before conducting a background check. The City mandates the poster in English, Spanish, Chinese, and any language spoken by at least 5% of employees at that workplace. For more information, review the City’s posting and notice requirements.
What Employers Should Change Now
Flag Covered San Francisco Positions
Add a location question to your recruiter intake, ATS workflows, and client screening instructions: will the person work at least eight hours per week in San Francisco?
If the answer is yes, route criminal-history information through a San Francisco-specific review process before a hiring manager makes a decision.
Add an Escalation for Newly Protected Records
A criminal charge title alone may not clarify whether a record is prohibited. Escalate any out-of-state arrest or conviction that could involve abortion-related healthcare, gender-affirming care, drag performances, or miscarriage-related conduct.
Don’t let a recruiter or manager make a decision based on a record before confirming whether it can legally be considered.
Keep Adverse Action Separate from Report Delivery
A background report does not equate to a hiring decision. Before taking a covered adverse employment action based on criminal history, the employer must follow San Francisco’s prospective-adverse-action process and applicable FCRA requirements.
For details on the employment-specific timeline, party responsibilities, and sample notices, read our San Francisco Employment Adverse Action Guide.
Affordable Housing Providers: Different Workflow, Different Rules
The FCO also protects applicants for covered affordable housing in San Francisco. It doesn't automatically apply to every market-rate rental property or landlord.
Before checking criminal history, a covered affordable housing provider must:
Determine whether the applicant meets all other affordable-housing qualifications.
Provide the applicant with a copy of their rights before running a background check.
Avoid asking about criminal history on the rental application.
If criminal history is reviewed, the provider must conduct an individualized assessment. They may only consider directly related convictions and unresolved arrests. The provider cannot consider arrests without convictions, juvenile records, expunged or invalidated convictions, infractions, or convictions older than seven years.
If the provider considers denial, they must provide the report and identify the conviction or unresolved arrest supporting the potential decision. The applicant has 14 days to respond with information about inaccuracies, rehabilitation, or mitigating circumstances. For more information, read San Francisco’s official affordable-housing guidance.
Employment adverse-action templates should not be reused for affordable-housing decisions.
How Global Background Screening Can Help
Global Background Screening provides employment background checks and tenant background checks for authorized purposes.
GBS can deliver the screening report, support report accuracy and reinvestigation requests, and assist clients using an adverse-action workflow. However, GBS does not decide whether an individual should be hired or approved for housing. The employer or housing provider remains responsible for determining coverage, applying the correct local process, completing any required individualized assessment, and making the final decision.
Compliance notice: This article is general information, not legal advice. San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance obligations are fact-specific. Employers and housing providers should consult qualified counsel regarding their roles, properties, policies, and decisions.
