New York: Thanks to the new legislation of New York in which a person need not disclose his criminal history while he is applying for a new job.
The Fair Chance Act (FCA) amends New York City Civil Rights Law, thus stopping most of the employers from inquiring about criminal history until after a conditional offer for employment has been extended.
Activist of New York said, the legislation passed on Tuesday is the most progressive law of its type in the country and the most far-reaching because New York is the largest city where a policy like this has been enacted.
“The legislation comes out of the need to open the door to employment for people who are formerly incarcerated and have criminal records,” Alyssa Aguilera, Political Director for Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders told the Independent.
“We estimate about 2.5m people in NY have criminal records, so it’s going to have a really big impact on the that way people in the city get work, and particularly communities that have been negatively impacted by mass incarceration and over-criminalisation,” Ms Aguilera added.
The New York law is not the first of its kind, and is part of the larger movement pushing for fair chance hiring policies dubbed “Ban the box.” To date, 19 states and over 100 cities and counties have laws on the books that block some employers from including a checkbox on job applications that ask about conviction history.
