IANAL, but I highly doubt this would hold up in court by any means for several reasons: 1. Virginia is a "ban the box" state, meaning it is state law that the

IANAL, but I highly doubt this would hold up in court by any means for several reasons: 1. Virginia is a "ban the box" state, meaning it is state law that the state or government contractor cannot ask about a criminal background until a formal offer of employment is on the table. Unless of course the job requires prior to extending the offer (i.e. schools can't employ sex offenders, law enforcement jobs don't want convicted felons, etc..). 2. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job discrimination on a criminal background when it comes to race or nationality. The law seems to have been written with a very broad pen. While I understand there are certain businesses that should not be run by certain convicted felons (i.e. you don't want a daycare center run by someone convicted of molesting children), this law seems like it was written to solve a specific problem and needed a very general approach. Comparably, many states/cities do have restrictions on the types of licenses an individual can get based on their background (commonly referred to a collateral consequences of a conviction - http://www.abacollateralconsequences.org/ http://www.abacollateralconsequences.org/). For example, some states prohibit the issuing of a real estate license to individuals convicted of fraud. I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but this ordinance came into effect a month after the governor of Virginia signed the Ban the Box law.