Employers can’t hold arrest records against job seekers if no conviction, proposal says
Excerpted from The Gainesville Sun article by John Henderson Businesses in Gainesville, Florida with 15 or more employees would not be able to reject a job applicant based on their past arrests under a new law proposed by city officials. The City Commission has directed its legal team to draft a “fair chance hiring” ordinance […]
Harris County, Texas will no longer ask about criminal history on job applications
Excerpted from a Houston Public Media Blog by Andrew Schneider Harris County leaders on January 4 adopted a policy that will ban most county departments from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history. County Attorney Christian Menefee — who proposed the program — called this “banning the box,” a reference to the box on county […]
‘Ban the Box’ hiring law now applies to U.S. Federal Contracts
Excerpted from a Bloomberg Law Blog by Paige Smith Federal contractors no longer can inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before extending a conditional job offer to work on a government contract, a new prohibition that stems from a Trump-era defense policy law. The restriction, tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2020, […]
Iowa Supreme Court urged to strike down “Ban the Box”
Excerpted from a Courthouse News Service story by Rox Laird An Iowa business association claims a Waterloo city ordinance protecting job applicants with criminal records conflicts with state law. An Iowa city’s ordinance that initially bars employers from checking job applicants’ criminal records should be struck down because it conflicts with state and federal law, […]