On May 4, 2012, many of the new provisions of the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform Law, Chapter 256 of the Acts of 2010 signed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in August of 2010 will take effect. Commonly known as ‘CORI Reform,’ the law changes who will have authorized access to CORI and how CORI will be accessed.  As a result of the CORI Reform, the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) will replace the existing CORI system with a new secure, web-based system called ‘iCORI’ that should be available on May 7, 2012. (more…)

A new piece of California legislature – Assembly Bill No. 1831 (AB 1831) – would prohibit local governments in the state “from inquiring into or considering the criminal history of an applicant or including any inquiry about criminal history on any initial employment application.” AB 1831 would only authorize a local government to consider the criminal history of a job applicant “after the applicant’s qualifications have been screened and the agency has determined the applicant meets the minimum employment requirements as stated in any notice issued for the position.” California Assembly Bill 1831 is available at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_1801-1850/ab_1831_bill_20120222_introduced.pdf. (more…)

With a recent survey showing nine out of ten employers conduct criminal background checks on some or all job candidates, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public meeting in July 2011 examining the use of arrest and conviction records by employers for criminal background checks to determine if the practice was an unfair and discriminatory hiring barrier to job seeking ex-offenders. The EEOC’s actions, coupled with the growing “Ban the Box” movement seeking to remove the criminal history question from job applications, shows that employer use of criminal records is under fire now more than ever. This is Trend Number 1 of the fifth annual ‘Employment Screening Resources (ESR) Top 10 Trends in Background Checks’ for 2012. To view the list of trends, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/ESR-Top-10-Trends-in-Background-Checks-for-2012.php. (more…)

Illustrating the importance of employee background screening in keeping customers and retailers safe, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has released a new survey completed by retail executives from nearly 100 of the nation’s leading department stores, mass merchants, discounters, drug stores, grocery stores, and restaurants that shows nearly all retailers polled – 96.6 percent – utilize some form background screening during the application, hiring, and employment process. The NRF ‘Background Screening: Protecting Retailers and Consumers’ Survey is available for download at: http://www.nrf.com/backgroundscreening. (more…)

A Special Report on KTVU-TV Channel 2 News in San Francisco – ‘Ex-Felons Face Tough Road In Difficult Job Market’ – features a group pushing to “Ban the Box” that ex-offenders must check on job applications to disclose their criminal pasts to employers.

In the KTVU story, a truck driver – an ex-felon who served nine years in prison – believes the reason he cannot get an interview though he has applied for 80 jobs is because of the “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” question on job applications and claims that disclosing his felony conviction gives employers an excuse to ignore him. (more…)