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Report on "Ban the Box" Initiative
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Presented By: Kurt Hodgen.
Recommendation and Review
Council had requested that staff look into the removal of the "box" or question on the City job application form which asks if the applicant has been convicted of any offenses. (A copy of the applicable page from our application form is attached)
The idea is that having this on a job application could eliminate some otherwise qualified applicants from consideration and makes it harder for ex-offenders to get jobs.
A number of Virginia cities have eliminated this from their job applications, including Alexandria, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth and Richmond. Others, including Roanoke and Charlottesville are considering this as well. The Commonwealth of Virginia has not adopted a state-wide policy on this issue.
The City will continue to ask about a job applicant's criminal history, just at a different state in the process. It is currently our practice to run criminal background checks on any applicant to whom we make a conditional job offer. It should be noted that if we rescind an offer of employment, based on information contained in the background check, we must make the applicant aware of this and give them a chance to explain or correct the information in the event that it is erroneous.
Given the preceding paragraph, staff believes that the best interests of the City remain protected if the question is eliminated from our job applications and thus recommend that the question be removed.