Posted on 06/27/2017 4:38:46 AM PDT by buckalfa
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Just one question on a job application can make some people fifty percent less likely to get the position.
Spartanburg City Council voted Monday night to ‘ban the box’ that asks people applying for a job with the city to identify if they’ve been convicted of a crime.
People in support of this resolution say it’s just one step at the beginning of the application process that lets people be judged on their merits and not mistakes.
“It removes some of that stigma and shame that people with convictions face when applying for a job,” said Meghan Smith, who brought the idea to council earlier this year.
According to the city’s resolution, nearly 70 million Americans with convictions have problems finding jobs. Many of those people are in the upstate.
“People make mistakes,” said City Councilwoman Rosalyn Henderson Myers. “They make bad decisions, but they’re not bad people.”
City Council voted unanimously to ban the box on applications for city employees, and it’s already in effect.
“We’re all about fairness and giving people opportunities, and of course if someone is the best qualified yet they may have a criminal history…we don’t want to just throw somebody out,” Henderson Myers said.
The vote had the support of half of the people who packed council chambers.
“It’s the government saying we are still for you…we want you to be productive members of society who can support your families, support yourself, rather than having to go back maybe to a life of crime or how you supported yourself before,” Smith said.
They want to expand it to other cities and counties and even private business owners.
Smith says one of the most prevalent concerns she faced was safety. “We’re not talking about picking people out of prison and placing them in in a job,” Smith said. “You still have to be the best person and be qualified for that job.”
Council says it will help make people more productive citizens and cut down on unemployment.
“It gives all people a leg up in order to help to alleviate that problem and to help us employ people gainfully,” Henderson Myers said.
Spartanburg is only the second place in the state to do this. York County voted to ban the box earlier this year.
I know "ban the box" was part of Obama's social justice agenda, but I guess the cause still has legs. Will such legislation expand to other communities? Will such legislation expand to private employers.
How about buying a BMW?
https://upstatebusinessjournal.com/news/bmw-plans-invest-600m-add-1000-jobs-spartanburg/
So now the good people of Spartanburg will have to wonder “is this man at my front door wanting to read my water meter a convicted rapist?”
Virtue signaling.
We’re better than those bad people that hold people accountable for their actions.
We’re better than those people that take their responsibilities seriously to protect the people of their city from criminals that are looking to get government jobs so they can steal the taxpayer’s money.
Will being a racist part of job screening? Should they also ban considering non-crime of being a racist?
Adding Spartanburg to my list of places not to move to after escaping NYS.
Sigh.
I wonder if their attitude would change if some of the council members get attacked or killed by those criminals who they hired anyway?
Your thought is fact. Merit is a two-way street.
These are the kind of people who would say 'Sure OJ Simpson murdered two people but he won the Heisman Trophy and that's all we should focus on.'
As with the minimum wage fiasco, these virtue signallers will actually gum up the HR works even more as employers will do more reference/background/credit checks. From that standpoint it's a futile gesture since criminal information is available as a matter of public record.
Only in a "fairy tale" or utopian world. Since the 1964 Civil Rights Act when the government inserted itself into the hiring process at every level, merit is way down the list. That's how we got a kenyan/indonesian "Community Organizer" usurper who got through on affirmative action.
That is an illogical statement. Part of a person's "merit" is that a person is not a criminal. A crime is not a "mistake", it's a willful act to violate the social contract.
Spartanburg suffers from more than it's fair share of feral gang bangers and meth heads. The city is dark before sunset. While South Carolina has a reputation for being rock ribbed conservative, changing demographics and foreign investment is slowly changing the state into a Rino heaven. However SC is still better than the left coast.
Spartanburg suffers from more than it's fair share of feral gang bangers and meth heads. The city is dark before sunset. While South Carolina has a reputation for being rock ribbed conservative, changing demographics and foreign investment is slowly changing the state into a Rino heaven. However SC is still better than the left coast.
The social justice people have removed shame from beggars, bastards, and the obese. Next up - ex cons.
Sometimes I think I’m the only person without a criminal record left in this whole state.
That 70 million working-age American adults have convictions is a mind-blowing stat. That’s something like 1 in 4 adults.
From a different point of view, if they are employed and have an income, ex-cons might be less likely to backslide.
I am not a fan of what they are doing, but just saying there might be a pragmatic point to it. .
I know these two Pakistani computer tecs have radical Muslim connections, but let’s hire them to be Congress’s tec team and give them a security clearance.
It is more like one in three. 70 million with a criminal record out of an adult population of about 225 million. Add in drug testing, you could make SWAG that 50 percent or more of adult Americans are unemployable.
It also leaves the employers and their existing employees at a severe disadvantage, not knowing the criminal history of a new job applicant.
So many people lament their troubles in trying to find a job after a history of not following the rules of society and getting into trouble with the law. Doing things that are outside society norms is fine when your just being a dumbf*ck. But that aberrant behavior does not endear you to employers looking for responsible, hard workers they can depend on.
To all this I say, "Well, DUH!" People have no problems making their own bed. But they need to learn to lie in them even if the sheets are sullied.
I understand the point and I don’t disagree.
But not having the box is at best a waste of time. If you don’t check the background of someone you intend to hire you are a fool.
Plus the box is a good initial test of honesty. If they do have a record and they did not check the box you might as well throw their application in the trash.
If they do have a record did check the box and provide a truthful answer as to the how they got that record; you just might give them a chance.
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