Law aims to stop discrimination against job applicants with criminal history

Bruce Schreiner / Associated Press

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signs an executive order aimed at giving people with criminal records a “fair chance” to land state government jobs, at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The Republican governor’s action will remove the box on state job application forms that asks job seekers whether they have criminal records.

During the six months Tyrone Woods spent looking for a job, he sent emails, filled out applications and hoped for the best.

His résumé highlighted two steady jobs since 2010­ — one for four years in Las Vegas and the other for two years when he briefly moved to Texas.

However, in the callbacks, his past felony convictions were discussed.

“My background crushed it all,” Woods said.

This isn’t an uncommon story for those who have been incarcerated.

According to Maurice Emsellem, the project director with the National Employment Law Project, about 575,000 people in Nevada — roughly 26 percent of adults — have some sort of criminal record. The national average is about 30 percent.

Because of hiring practices, many with criminal backgrounds have struggled to obtain employment when re-entering the workforce.

“You have to be able to see someone for who they really are,” said Jon Ponder, the founder of Hope for Prisoners, which helps with prison re-entry services. “A guy comes home 15 or 20 years later, they are not the mistake they made back then.”

In 2017, Nevada passed legislation that requires public employers, such as state or local municipalities, to ensure all qualified applicants get fair consideration, whether or not they have to check the criminal history box. The law, authored by Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson, went into effect Jan. 1.

“So many people have had this cloud over their head for decades,” Thompson said. “Now people with records can more confidently apply to state, county and city jobs. They really have a fair shot at landing an amazing job or career.”

Ponder said there are a few factors that determine someone’s success after incarceration: family support, housing, transportation and employment.

“Employment is No. 1,” he said. “That box on an application prevents people from getting in front of employers and selling themselves to get that job they need.”

The law doesn’t get rid of the background check outright; it just switches the timeline for when employers check the history.

“It makes a difference for a candidate to have a face-to-face meeting first,” Thompson said. “That way, the employer can look at their credentials, not their past.”

When a background check does occur, the law requires that employers consider the type of crime, how it relates to the job and how long it has been since the crime occurred.

“You have to consider things like how old the person was when they committed the crime, the length of time that has passed and the severity of the offense,” said Kara Jenkins, an administrator with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.

Even before the legislation was proposed, Thompson said some were already practicing this approach. The city of North Las Vegas passed its version of ban the box in 2016. When Thompson worked for Clark County government, he said some positions, such as gang intervention programs, hired people with records.

Emsellem said about 30 states have passed some sort of variation of this legislation.

“But I think Nevada is one of the strongest,” he said. “It’s not just about removing questions about a criminal background, but about having a more fair procedure for screening people.”

The Nevada Equal Rights Commission’s role in this process also strengthens the law.

If an applicant is disqualified, the hiring person has to explain his or her decisions to determine whether the background check played a role and why. The commission is now able to investigate any allegations of discrimination.

The Equal Rights Commission has also hosted workshops to educate employers and answer questions, such as the business’s criminal liability if the person it hired were to commit a crime at work.

“We are able to answer questions people might be too embarrassed to ask,” Jenkins said.

Other items Jenkins has discussed in meetings include how employers can be sensitive to employees’ needs if they have to meet with probation officers during the workday and the appropriateness of disclosing an employee’s criminal history.

“Other employees shouldn’t be aware if someone has a felony conviction,” Jenkins said. “That should be completely confidential.”

Ban the box is only one aspect helping formerly incarcerated people adjust to society and the workforce.

At the end of 2017, Ponder and Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly organized a job fair specifically for those with a record.

Ponder said they selected employers in the private sector that had positions that needed filling immediately. Three hundred people attended, including Woods, who was finally able to obtain a job at the fair.

The 46-year-old Las Vegas native had his first conviction for drug trafficking in the early ’90s. He spent the next several years in and out of prison until finding Hope for Prisoners in 2010.

“The program helped me restructure my life and get a job at United Recycling, where I was for four years,” Woods said.

He moved to Texas before returning to Las Vegas in 2017, but couldn’t find work until he attended the job fair.

“Not everyone wants to give an ex-felon a chance,” he said. “Those who do give us a chance will see we want to change our lives and we can work to do so.”

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