To avoid a false sense of security about job applicants during employment screening, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine plans to warn employers in the state that criminal background checks processed by his office under a new law will only include information about convictions and guilty pleas and will not include arrests and charges that did not result in convictions, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The full AP story is available at http://www.marionstar.com/viewart/20130116/NEWS01/301160002/Ohio-AG-advises-employers-about-background-checks. (more…)

Two new reports from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) reveal that 42 cities and counties and seven states in the U.S. have adopted “Ban the Box” policies that remove questions about criminal history from job application forms and delay them until later in the hiring process to ensure that qualified job applicants with arrest or conviction records are not unfairly shut out from employment opportunities. A press release from NELP – a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that focuses on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers – is available at: http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Press%20Releases/2012/PR-Ban-the-Box-Momentum.pdf?nocdn=1. (more…)

According to a column on the DNAinfo.com New York website, a convicted con man who served three years in prison for passing bad checks and ripping off banks was awarded city contracts to restore parks without any kind of criminal background check. The man was later arrested for allegedly paying his workers with $50,000 in bad checks. The column on DNAinfo.com, a leading local news source covering New York City’s neighborhoods, is available at: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121011/new-york-city/city-awarded-contracts-convicted-swindler-without-background-check. (more…)

A proposal by Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell would prevent most employers in the city of Seattle, Washington from denying jobs to job applicants based solely on their criminal history by delaying criminal background checks until later in the hiring process, according to a report from KOMO News Channel 4. (more…)

The State of Ohio has passed new laws that will offer protections for employers hiring job applicants with criminal records.  The law, Senate Bill 337, which takes effect September 28, 2012, is an extensive reform of the collateral sanctions that impose employment restrictions and limitations on over 2 million Ohioans with misdemeanor and felony convictions. With SB 337, Ohio joins states such as Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina in offering protections for employers that hire and employ rehabilitated ex-offenders from tort liability for negligent hiring and retention claims. The text of Senate Bill 337 is available at http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_SB_337. (more…)