San Francisco is the latest city to present legislation that would prohibit employers from asking job applicants if they had any prior convictions. If the legislation is passed, San Francisco will join about twenty one other cities in banning the box, as it is known. Banning the box refers to the check box on job applications, asking if an applicant has had prior criminal convictions.
Among he twenty one cities, Cincinnati, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Austin, Texas, are included among those that have already banned the box.new Certain states have passed laws removing the felony question. This list includes Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii and New York.
San Francisco’s aim is to cut the rate recidivism so that convicted felons can find their way back into reputable society by gaining access to a productive job. The law would carry with it potential issues of discrimination if the employer rejected the employment candidate when the crimes for which he was convicted had no relation to the job.
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