Great Read - a True Story That Offers Hope

I got a copy of Shaka Senghor's book, Writing my Wrongs, for Christmas. I just could not put it down! What an amazing and insightful story of his journey into the drug trade, incarceration, faith, hope, and redemption.  I highly recommend reading his book, listening to his Ted Talk, and going to his website to learn more. 

Great news! I am so pleased that things are getting better for folks with criminal records. Check this out!!

Individuals with Criminal Records Could Receive ‘Fair Chance’ at Employment with New Legislation

https://csgjusticecenter.org/jc/announcements/individuals-with-criminal-records-could-receive-fair-chance-at-employment-with-new-legislation/?utm_source=CSG+Justice+Center+Primary+List&utm_campaign=2cda3651e1-9_23_15_NRRC_Newsletter9_21_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_db9d88bcfb-2cda3651e1-42280953&mc_cid=2cda3651e1&mc_eid=9499263aa8

New EEOC ruling on background checks!!

EEOC Updates Policy on Criminal Background Checks

By Matthew Schwarzfeld, Council of State Governments Justice Center

Earlier this week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated enforcement guidance on employers’ use of arrest and conviction records when making employment decisions. In its guidance, the EEOC cited that hiring policies that include blanket exclusions of people with criminal records have a disparate racial impact, and therefore violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The new rules call for employers to assess applicants on an individual basis rather than excluding everyone with a criminal record through a blanket policy. The guideline states that employers should not reject a candidate because of an arrest without a conviction, as "arrests are not proof of criminal conduct." The new guidance doesn’t prohibit the use of criminal background checks. Rather, it urges employers to consider the "nature of the crime, the time elapsed, and the nature of the job” both in writing a hiring policy and in making a specific hiring decision.

EEOC’s commissioners decided to issue the updated guidance in a bipartisan 4-1 vote. The new guidance supersedes the EEOC’s previous position on the issue of criminal background checks, released in 1987. While confirming the core principles of the earlier policy, this guidance provides significantly more detail and direction for employers. In nearly 60 pages, the EEOC recommends “best practices” for employers, provides a dozen examples that clarify the standards, and answers frequently asked questions.

“The new guidance clarifies and updates the EEOC’s longstanding policy concerning the use of arrest and conviction records in employment, which will assist job seekers, employees, employers, and many other agency stakeholders,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien, in a statement.

In its guidance, the EEOC cites extensive social science research and case law supporting the finding that blanket exclusions of people with criminal records violate Title VII. Specifically, the commission cites data indicating that about one in 17 white men are expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime, compared with one in six Hispanic men, and one in three African-American men.

“The ability of African-Americans and Hispanics to gain employment after prison is one of the paramount civil justice issues of our time,” said Stuart Ishimaru, one of the five members of the commission, when announcing the new standard.

The EEOC is the federal agency that enforces the nation’s laws against employment discrimination. Though it provides guidance, it is not a regulatory agency. Therefore, judges hearing employment discrimination cases have discretion whether or not to defer to EEOC guidance. The judge in a 2007 district court case on whether policies that prohibit hiring individuals with criminal convictions discriminate on the basis of race [El v. SEPTA, 479 F.3d 232 (3d Cir. 2007)] wrote that EEOC’s 1987 ruling didn’t provide sufficient research support, and therefore chose not to defer to it.

“The research is really important to this updated policy. It gives heft to the whole thing. That’s why half the document is footnotes. For courts to take the issue of disparate impact seriously, the argument has to be very well reasoned and thoughtful, which in this case it really is. This is clearly a very significant step by the EEOC,” said Maurice Emsellem, Policy Co-Director with the National Employment Law Project (NELP). (To view NELP’s highlights of the EEOC’s guidance, click here.)

Unlike the old policy, the new guidance also provides specific recommendations for how employer criminal record policies should be designed to comply with Title VII. For example, because criminal background checks have a disparate impact on people of color, the EEOC states that employers must show that the screening process is “job related” and consistent with “business necessity.” Specifically, this means that employers must consider the age of the offense, the seriousness of the offense, and its relation to the job in question.

The new policy also urges employers to give applicants a chance to explain their criminal record before they are rejected outright. An applicant might say the report is inaccurate, the conviction was expunged, that he or she has been fully rehabilitated, or that the conviction is unrelated to the job he/she is applying for.

The policy also makes clear how Title VII interacts with other local and state laws. It specifies that federal laws like Title VII generally preempt state laws (and that the Supreme Court has upheld the fact that Title VII does this), and that legislators cannot enact overly broad state and local laws that restrict employment of people with criminal records—as they would then be in violation of Title VII.

“This guidance is doing something very similar to what the Attorney General has been doing on reentry issues,” Emsellem said, referring to the Attorney General's Federal Interagency Reentry Council and recent guidance from the HUD Director on public housing access for ex-offenders and other issues. “It’s saying, ‘Look at your laws, and make sure they’re consistent with federal law.’”

This ruling comes at an important moment in the discussion around employer’s use of criminal background checks. According to a 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resources Management, 92 percent of employers conduct criminal background checks on some or all job applicants, up from 51 percent in 1996. More than two-thirds of states allow hiring and professional-licensing decisions to be made on the basis of an arrest alone.

EEOC has been considering the issue of the disparate racial impact of criminal background checks for several years. Many observers called for an updated policy, citing the fact that at the time of its last ruling, the Internet—and online background check companies, now part of a multi-billion dollar industry—barely existed. In a public hearing on the issue last July, the commission received approximately 300 public comments from prominent organizations, including the NAACP, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Society for Human Resources Management, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and others.

The EEOC has also recently stepped up its enforcement efforts. It recently publicly settled with Pepsi over the beverage company’s use of a blanket exclusion policy. The commission’s enforcement wing is also currently investigating more than 100 claims of job discrimination based on criminal background checks.

To learn more about this important development and how it will impact different stakeholders, listen to this press event (sponsored by NELP), which includes Chris Owens, NELP’s executive director; Hilary Shelton, Washington Bureau Director and Senior Vice President for Advocacy, NAACP; Sharon Dietrich, Managing Attorney for Public Benefits and Employment, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia; Fernán Cepero, Vice President of Human Resources, YMCA of Greater Rochester; Glenn Martin, Vice President of Development and Public Affairs, Fortune Society; and Elsie Sacarello Quiles, a 56-year old mother of four from Marietta, Georgia.

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This is a National Reentry Resource Center Announcement. This newsletter is funded in whole or in part through a grant (award number: 2010-MUBX-KO84) from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this newsletter (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

Discrimination in Hiring - Employers be aware of your practices!

WOW. It's amazing that we even have to talk about this in 2012. Discrimination should be a thing of the past. Hopefully this action against Pepsi will be a wakeup call to employers everywhere.

http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/announcements/in-settlement-eeoc-clarifies-law-on-employers-use-of-arrest-and-conviction-records-in-hiring-process

The Capital "F"

Are you walking around with capital F on your forehead? Do you assume everyone knows about your past?  We must first believe in ourselves before we can make anyone else believe in us. Although we cannot control what others will think of us, we can do much to influence it by believing in who we are, what we have to offer, and the fact that we are a valuable human being. 

Erase that capital F by choosing to believe in all you are and all you can be.

Letters of Recommendation

Getting a job these days is tough; even tougher if you have a record. One way to move yourself up in the interviewing process is to have letters of recommendation.

Who have you worked for or worked with who has liked your work? A boss, a co-worker, a friend, an associate, your church, a customer, a volunteer activity... They would all qualify to provide a letter of recommendation for you.

How do you get one? Just ask!! Start by asking your references to provide one for you.  Once you do this, expand to asking others in your network to help you. If you ask, be sure to tell them what qualities, skills, or issues you would like them to address in the letter. Be prepared, though. Sometimes they want you to write it for them and they will sign off on it.

Once you have done this initially, be sure to do it on a regular basis. Ask those you work for and work with to write one for you. Ask satistified customers, etc to write one. You will be amazed at how many people will be glad to help you with this!!

Finally, keep all these letters in an attractive portfolio of some kind. You can use a narrow binder, report cover, or the like. It is also good to use sheet protectors to keep them clean and safe from the elements, such as spilled coffee!

Good luck and happy job hunting!!

How to effectively explain a criminal background to employers

Do you think that stating "will explain in interview" on the job application will get you a chance to explain in an interview? Think again. This common practice will most likely get you placed in the "circular file", only to never be looked at again.

If you want to get the interview, be open, honest, and upfront with your situation. If you are asked in any application if you have a criminal record, you should have something called a LETTER OF EXPLANATION. Here is an outline of what it is:

What it is

• Explanation of criminal history
• Accepting responsibility for choices
• Discusses lessons learned from past choices
• An opportunity for you to present yourself in a positive light and to not be defined by your past

Why to use it

• HR perspective – they want to find “an out” if they know you have a record
• Trash – try to prevent the app from being tossed out
• Do not put “will discuss in interview on a job application”
• Take control of your job search
• Increase chances of interview or hiring
• A way to get employers to get to know you

When to use it

• Filling out a job application
• To prepare for how you will verbally explain your history in an interview
• Give to a potential employer in an interview after you’ve talked about it

What to say in it

• The complete truth
• Use soft, positive words
• Use your own voice
• Give employer respect and honesty
• Tell them that when they do a background check they will find things
• Tell them what they will find
• Accept responsibility for choices
• Explained any lessons learned, classes taken, new insights, etc
• Talk about what makes you special – why should they hire you?
• Tell them you are excited about an opportunity to work with them and you look forward to meeting with them

What not to do:

·   Say too much about the offense

·   Take up more than one page

·   Make excuses for choices

·   Pass blame

·   Create/show a victim mentality

Proactive Ideas for Handling a Criminal Record

What to do about what’s on it

It is critical that you know what is on it and that you list every case you have when requested by an employer OR you could be denied an opportunity for employment.  Don’t take this for granted in any way.

Expungement

§         Applies to court records only

§         Hides the courthouse file and CCAP record but is still on CIB

§         Issues:

·        Were you under 21 and committed a misdemeanor?

·        Are you off paper and trouble free?

·        Talk to judge’s clerk for information on how to request it

Hiding Records

§         A judge orders a record removed from CCAP if the conviction is inflammatory or immediately preventing employment

§         Need a lawyer to get this done

§         Must prove there is harm being done by the record being out there

Record Removal

o       Arrests resulting in no prosecution, dismissal, or acquittal can be removed from CIB

o       Must file a removal request with the CIB – one request for each cycle to be removed

o       Does not remove a case from CCAP

Pardon

o       Rare and not helpful