Banning the Box? An Initiative Not to be Taken Lightly.

Posted by admin on July 12, 2010 under Screening News | Comments are off for this article

We read an interesting story online about how in various parts of California, employers are considering removing the felony conviction box on many job applications. The Bay Citizen reported that a handful of city and county employers are advocating a “ban the box” approach on their job applications. They are even citing studies showing that ex-offender employment reduces recidivism by as much as 50 percent.

The article extensively quotes Linda Evans, the executive director of All of Us or None, a national organizing initiative of prisoners, former prisoners and felons, to combat discrimination. Evans’ comments perpetuate a false negative impression of the background screening industry by stating that employers and background screening companies are prohibited from examining more than seven years into an applicant’s criminal record under the Fair Credit Act. “Background check companies are not following the law, and don’t always update [records] every 30 days, so their records can be full of errors, Evans said. “But they just get away with it because no one’s enforcing [the law].”

The truth is that background screening companies are actually not prohibited under the FCRA from examining more than seven years into an applicant’s criminal record. In fact, under the auspices of the FCRA, background screening companies can examine records as far back as they like. What’s prohibited is the reporting of certain pieces of information more than seven years old; however, criminal conviction information is NOT one of them. Evans’ claim that background check companies do not follow the law by updating their records is a claim that is an overgeneralization at the very least.

This “ban the box” initiative means that those employers adopting this measure will need to better apply the 2009 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulation to ensure that any past criminal history is directly related to the position for which they are being considered. Companies, municipalities and other organizations considering this measure need to heavily consider the implications of foregoing this critical element of upfront information gathering. If a candidate is advanced through the hiring process, only to wash out due to criminal history that applies to the position, companies will needlessly lose their invested time, money and effort.

Questions? Please contact Corporate Screening Support at 800-229-8606 and select option 3, or contact your Account Representative.