At Koch Industries Inc., applicants for most jobs no longer answer initial questions about their criminal history. Other companies have similar fair-chance hiring policies, including Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond.
In this legislative session, Missouri lawmakers have a chance to adopt a fair-chance hiring policy too, also known as 鈥渂an the box.鈥 Securing a fair chance in competing for jobs is something that people with criminal records want and need.
I should know; I have a criminal record and support a fair chance for people with prior criminal records.
It has been over 20 years now since I came out of prison and had to look for employment. When I first was released, I found it very hard to get a job. I came out of prison with a background as a certified nurse assistant and a certified medication tech. I even had worked while in prison in a work release program at a nursing home in Chillicothe, Mo. I had a good r茅sum茅 and recent job history.
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I applied at a nursing home, and they were very impressed with my r茅sum茅. They said they were anxious for me to start and even agreed to give me my preferred shift, but once I filled out the official paperwork, all that changed. Even though I had experience in the field and my convictions were not related to the tasks of the job I would be doing, I was not able to be hired for that company. Eventually, I was hired for another company that gave me a chance even with my background, but it was a hard road to get where I am today.
This needs to be addressed. It has been slowly changing through a nationwide fair-chance hiring movement. Progress has been championed by elected officials across ideological lines who recognize that putting people with criminal records to work improves public safety. This past year, Georgia鈥檚 Republican Gov. Nathan Deal and Virginia鈥檚 Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe authorized fair-chance hiring for state employees.
This is a fairness issue. This is an economic issue. It also moves employment decisions to where they should be, based on judgment, fairness and individual consideration rather than an emotional reaction to something that may or may not be relevant to a particular position. There are many situations in which someone鈥檚 past mistake has no bearing on a particular job.
Those who demonstrate they are no longer a risk to public safety should have a chance to make a living and be productive members of society. Excluding someone at the very start of the application process has the very real effect of disqualifying large numbers of Missourians, who are trying to improve themselves and avoid future involvement with criminal justice systems.
As a society, we all will pay a price if those released from prison find themselves shut out of the workforce. Keeping a person behind bars isn鈥檛 cheap: A cost of almost $21,000 per prisoner per year, according to 2014 Missouri Department of Corrections Annual Report, results in over-investment in incarceration, with limited benefits to Missouri taxpayers.
Missouri would not be breaking new ground here. Ohio, Colorado and Nebraska, in addition to Virginia and Georgia, have all adopted fair-chance hiring policies. Missouri will have the opportunity to take a step in this direction in 2016 due to Senate Bill 724, filed by Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis. SB724 currently applies only to hiring in state government.
Of course, fair-chance hiring doesn鈥檛 mean eliminating background checks further along in the application process. No employer would be forced to hire an inappropriate applicant because of fair-chance hiring.
Fair-chance policies benefit everyone because they鈥檙e good for families and the local community. A decision to join the fair-chance hiring movement would make Missouri stronger. We would be economically stronger if smart, talented, hard-working people were put to work instead of being unfairly excluded from jobs because of a question on an application form.
Barbara Baker is the advocate director for the Center for Women in Transition.