Communities across the Country Think Outside the Box

Many cities and counties across the country are changing the way they do business. They’re thinking outside the box – the felony conviction box – and changing their hiring policies to increase access to jobs for people with felony convictions.

 

In past news briefs we’ve reported about our successful Think Outside the Box campaign to convince Multnomah County, one of Oregon’s largest employers, to remove its felony conviction check box from its job application form. Multnomah County is just one of many government agencies changing hiring policies and practices, and each day other cities and counties open their doors just a little wider to people with conviction histories. Here are just a few examples.

 

In Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley said, "Implementing this new policy won't be easy, but it's the right thing to do. . . . We cannot ask private employers to consider hiring former prisoners unless the City practices what it preaches." Each year, 20,000 people return to Chicago from prison. The City of Chicago has changed its hiring practices to allow agencies to take into account the age of the criminal record, the seriousness of the offense, evidence of rehabilitation, and other factors when making hiring decisions. The city also removed the criminal history question from its job application and instead asks a potential employee to disclose information about his or her criminal record after a conditional offer of employment has been made.

 

The City of Boston has also removed its criminal history question from its job application, but it’s also gone a step further to require those who sell goods and services to the city to provide more employment opportunities to people with felony convictions. Vendors contracting with the city are required to wait to do a criminal background check until after determining if someone is otherwise qualified for the position. The city also created an appeals process for people denied employment based on their conviction history and a way to dispute the accuracy and relevance of their criminal record.

 

These are just two examples. Similar policies have been adopted in Cambridge (MA), Minneapolis, St. Paul, San Francisco, Alameda County (CA), Baltimore, Battle Creek (MI), Travis County (TX), Berkeley, and New Haven. Changes are being proposed in Los Angeles, Oakland and many other areas.

 

You can find out more about these changes, including the text of different city resolutions on the National Employment Law Project (NELP) website.