The Fair Employment Chance Policy Brief Writing Assignment (Essay Sample)

The Fair Employment Chance Policy Brief
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Fair Employment Chance Policy Brief
Executive Summary
This paper highlights contents discussed by Von Bergen & Bressler (2016) article, which evaluates the Ban the Box policy. The act restricts employers from discriminating or eliminating ex-convicts job seekers from participating in the entire hiring process in the initial step. The discussion evaluates how the job seekers with past criminal records face stigma in the public and corporate sector from employers. It further examines the impact of such discrimination on the life of ex-offenders after release from prison.
The paper further evaluates solutions that have been imposed by different level of the government and particularly the Ban the Box Policy or fair chance law. In addition, concerns about the policy enactment are highlighted that include threats and risks at workplace because of hiring ex-convicts. The discussion finally highlights the recommended framework that should be applied by employers in hiring process.
Introduction
Ex-offenders often face significant discrimination, which hinders their integrating into society after finishing their jail terms across USA. Disgrace that US society associates criminal record with have been found to have adverse consequences for ex-convicts including difficulty in receiving university funding, impeding right to vote, hindering ability to rent houses and getting employment (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Individuals with past criminal records are viewed as untrustworthy, unreliable, people who are inclined to steal and lack sufficient skills to handle tasks allocated to them.
Problem
Department of justice has shown that between 60 to 70% of former inmates are unable to secure employment in their first year after their release. The data further shows that African Americans have twice as much struggle to have a chance of being called back for interview after being found with criminal records following a thorough background check (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Employers perceive that the only way to eliminate their vulnerability to civil liability is by refusing to employ potentially dangerous individuals. In return, this form of discrimination has been observed to make life of ex-offender more difficult after their release into public domain.
Many ex-convicts have to start from scratch as often they usually have no shelter, money, clothes among other basic needs which mean securing a job would give them the much-needed foundation. However, with such kind of stigma and challenges, these individuals are inclined to rejoin criminal life for them to meet their daily requirements (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Studies have revealed that stigma of incarceration; conviction and arrest reduce individual earnings in workforce. This poses a challenge to the society given that unemployment and low incomes increase criminal activities and recidivism. Additionally, workplace violence is mostly committed by strangers that are non-employees. Furthermore, criminal activities at workstations are less likely to be perpetrated by ex- offenders compared to regular employees with clean records.
Solution
The resolution to this problem is elimination of little box on most job application form that requires individuals to give their criminal records. This campaign or policy is referred to as “Fair Chance Act” or “Ban the Box.” Its aim is to abolish reviews of criminal history during the preliminary of employment applications and encourage employers to consider first person qualification before criminal history during hiring process (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Theoretically, the policy also anticipated assisting in ensuring that employers follow fair employment guidelines such as whether conviction and the job available for hire are related. However, it should be noted that Ban the Box do not limit the right of employer’s to perform background evaluations as employment condition, rather they simply apply during application process.
Typically, the law restricts employers inquiring conviction histories by limiting the things that can be asked of an applicant before employement, the time inquiry of conviction histories should be made, the extent to which companies can investigate criminal records (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). The fair chance act differs in following ways: job vacancies included, type of organization covered, stage that criminal records should be considered in applicant background checkup and degree to which they provide hiring bodies with principles on how to scrutinize conviction records during exclusive screening. Notably, majority of this laws apply to public sector only although the blanket of fair chance act affecting the entire employment sector is on rising.
Currently, more than 100 counties and cities have adopted the law and the implementation together with embracement of the policy has gone viral across USA. USA government under Obama presidency boosted the policy using My Brother’s Keeper Task Force initiative, which encourages employers to give applicants a fair chance by judging them based on their merits. The administration also introduced some changes aimed at assisting citizens with criminal histories become more productive such as eliminating the box in application of federal posts (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). Ban the Box has also been endorsed by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as it removed the criminal queries during work application in its 2012 guidelines. It further recommended on this revised guidelines that employers should not inquire about conviction history on employment application. The commission also approved the idea of the policy, which allows companies to evaluate relevance of individual's conviction to the post in light of applicants experience and qualifications objectively.
Impacts of the Policy
In particular the Ban the Box are intended to deter employers from eliminating applicants in the first step of hiring processes because of a criminal past prior they chance to examine their previous records prior they consider their qualification of the job (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). This law affect companies that use an automated system that receive applications via the internet. Such system usually eliminates undesirable applicants based on their criminal records without spending time to evaluate how qualified they are in relation to the job vacancy.
According to 2012, EEOC guidance excluding applicant based on their arrest and conviction histories violates the civil rights act of 1964. The commission explained that such kind of screening could disproportionally target racial minorities especially Hispanics and blacks due to higher rates of arrest and convictions (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). As a result, EEOC declared that employers might face charges under Title VII of the civil right act lest they apply a targeted criminal background checks which are focused on identifying criminal conduct that relate to position in question.
Concerns from Employers
Although the policy makes life easier for an ex-convict in the job market, it has created frustration and confusion among employers. The hiring bodies have their own wet of interests when it comes to hiring people with past criminal records. While most employers are willing to give ex-offenders a second chance in corporate sector, many oppose taking risks that they think could threaten their organization reputation and workplace (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). In fact, many of them are reluctant to be first to hire newly freed convicts and instead they are interested in employing individuals that have established a good record after their release.
Opponents of the policy assert that it raise the stakes for possible penalties and litigation, increase insecurity and unsafety as well as complicate employment process. Most of them indicate that it is for employers to determine when to employ ex- offenders and how the criminal information is most relevant in the process of hiring (Von Bergen & Bressler, 2016). When considering risk mitigation, it is necessary for the employers to access all the criminal records of an applicant as it a...