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It's not that employers have access to your criminal record. It's more that employers have routinely asked on employment applications if you've ever been convic
by donarb 7y ago
It's not that employers have access to your criminal record. It's more that employers have routinely asked on employment applications if you've ever been convicted of a crime or been incarcerated. That has led to movements such as "Ban the Box", which aims to remove the checkbox on applications that ask that question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_the_Box https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_the_Box
- delfinom 7y agoMany times, that question is because of insurance companies doing stupid shit (i.e. they factor in the chance a former convict may reoffend and do so at your workplace). Shit, my company didn't even have a drug & alcohol "testing if you are suspected" policy until a few years ago when we switched insurance companies. And companies really have no choice but to do what the insurer says because the options are slim.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoPresumably, the “stupid shit” insurance companies do allows them to offer competitive premiums compared to other insurance companies, allowing them to stay in business. The solution would be to forbid all insurers from factoring in former convictions from calculated premiums.
- Spooky23 7y agoIt’s something that you are allowed to discriminate on at hiring, but can get in trouble for later. Some contracts also make it difficult for companies to do business with them if they hire someone with a criminal record. Government contracts in particular.
- skissane 7y agoAlso can be an issue if you do business with the finance sector. Finance sector companies (especially banks) have a lot of concern about theft and fraud, and one of the ways they try to mitigate this risk is by having policies restricting the employment of people who have criminal records for theft and fraud. (If you've done it before, you are more likely to do it again.) Often, those policies will be extended to apply to vendors. So vendors will be asked to ensure that none of their employees working for that client have a criminal record for those sort of offences. They usually satisfy this requirement by running background checks during the hiring process.
- tbyehl 7y agoAnd PCI DSS requires background checks. And HIPAA. SSAE16 / SOC technically doesn't, so far as I know, but it's going to end up in a company's policy due to (PCI | HIPAA | Insurance | Customer requirements | it was in the template) and therefore has to be enforced to pass audits.
- sbierwagen 7y agoAs that Wikipedia article notes, prohibiting questions about criminal records makes employers substantially less likely to hire African-Americans, since race is a strong proxy for arrest rate: https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/133/1/191/4060073?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/133/1/191/4060...
- cameronbrown 7y agoWe have to break the cycle at some point.
- jstarfish 7y agoI've even seen some that asked if you were ever arrested and the reason, whether or not you were even charged with any crime. It's nuts.