Please Help!
My boyfriend is a convicted felon. He was charged with his felony when
he was 18 years old and served 28 days. He is off probation, he has
never messed up since that day but everywhere he looks he sees a
background check is needed. Every time I look for ex-offender jobs all I
can find are jobs that are for felons just getting out of jail. He is
28 years old and makes $5 less an hour than his coworker and he has
certificates for his job and his coworker does not.
He has had the same
job for 9 years now and has not gotten a raise. He committed a crime
barely after turning 18 and now it is haunting him forever. I don't know
what else to do or where to look.
There has to be something he can do.
Please help me.
Jobs for felons: Old conviction is a problem
Hello,
ex-offenders and felons I deal with. First of all, I'm not sure what it is he does, but it seems that he has a marketable skill. Secondly, he has had the same job for nine years. That means that he has at least nine years of practical experience.
The problem I believe your boyfriend is having is, he is thinking like a felon that has a job rather than a working person that happens to have a record. He is letting his criminal record define who he is. He will not find a job looking for "Ex-offender Jobs." There is no such thing. No one advertises that they hire ex-offenders and felons. My suggestion is from now on he should stop thinking as if he has a mark of a criminal on his face. He does not! He should apply for every job he feels he is qualified to do.
His record is not going away. He has to deal with it and deal with it in a positive way. Never fear a background check. Every job he applies for, he should be honest about his past. When he gets an interview and the question comes up, he should speak briefly about it focusing on what he has done with his life since then. He should talk about the positive things he has done to improve himself. There are jobs for felons. Felons get hired everyday. The key is finding an employer who will look past his record (which should not be hard to do since it happened over ten years ago.) There are many companies that hire felons.
Like I said, he should apply for every job he feels he is qualified for. Finding a job is a numbers game. The more jobs he applies for, the more interviews he will get. The more interviews he gets, the greater his chances are of getting a job.
I hope this helps
Jobs for felons: Where can Ex-offenders and Felons Find Jobs?
Ex-offenders and convicted felons can get jobs with Federal Bonding Program
Jobs for felons: Ten Simple Steps to Getting a Job with a Criminal Record
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April has been recognized as “Second Chance Month” since 2017 as part of a bipartisan effort to push criminal justice reform. This year, President Trump has announced that he wants to cut unemployment among ex-offenders—currently around 27%, according to the Prison Policy Initiative—to single digits within five years. The most efficient way to do that is to modify the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
A job provides needed income and adds structure to a person’s day; it’s no surprise that studies have shown employment can reduce the chance of re-offending by about 20%. Jobs for ex-offenders benefit everyone in a community.
That’s one reason ex-offenders are included in the class of applicants employers are encouraged to consider by an incentive known as Work Opportunity Tax Credits. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is a provision of the Internal Revenue Code that authorizes a tax credit for companies that hire from certain populations, like veterans, recipients of certain entitlement programs, and people with felony records. Employers submit eligible new hires to claim a tax credit equal to a percentage of an employee’s wages.
More than job training or education, the WOTC holds promise for people leaving prison whose applications may not be as competitive as others. It also encourages higher wages since the tax credit is a proportion of what employees are paid.
In its current form, the WOTC isn’t as effective as it can be. The law applies only to those who are hired within one year of the date of their conviction or release from prison, whichever is later. In that respect, it may limit eligibility only to first-time users of the program; no job applicant can be certified twice if they need another job after that first year.
But as many as 45% of released prisoners don’t have a job in that first year of release. According to a study completed by the Brookings Institution last year, only 55% of released prisoners have any earnings at all during the first year they’re home. Very often, by the time they land a job, their eligibility for the WOTC is gone.
This might explain why the WOTC appears to suffer from underutilization. For instance, Oklahoma, the nation’s leading incarcerator, certified only 1,465 people in fiscal 2018 in the “ex-felon” category. New York, a state with approximately 47,100 inmates and 36,410 parolees, certified only 1,534 people for the WOTC. In 2014, an average of 41,866 people were on parole in California, yet only 527 eligible felons were certified to give their employers the tax credit.
The Labor Department reports that, for fiscal 2018, only 85,796 people with criminal records were certified as eligible employees—and this among a sea of an estimated 626,000 people who leave custody every year.
While it’s possible that 500,000 of those released people are ineligible because they’re beyond the one-year cutoff for the WOTC, any underutilization may stem from the inherent conflict between two policies that have same overarching goal: to help disadvantaged individuals secure employment.
Employers aren’t allowed to know of an applicant’s criminal record and eligibility under “Ban the Box” statutes—laws that remove felony conviction checkboxes from job applications.
Awareness of the WOTC benefit needs to grow and may very well do so on its own if aspiring hires can disclose their eligibility; but they won’t disclose if they’re prohibited from doing so. Ban the Box advocates have been so busy hiding people’s records to remove a disadvantage in hiring that they forego leveraging an advantage. We don’t know how many people who weren’t hired because of the eventual disclosure of their criminal record would have been offered a job if the company knew of the potential tax benefit.
There is a way to protect people’s understandable desire to both hide their record and also signal to employers that hiring them can bring a tax benefit. It involves not banning the box but revising it; a box asking of an applicant is a member of the groups covered by the WOTC would hide a criminal record while also informing businesses of the tax credit if hired.
It true that the stigma of criminal conviction prevents many people from being hired. It’s unclear whether the WOTC is enough to overcome preconceived ideas about released prisoners. The little evidence we have on this, a survey of companies in Connecticut by a small nonprofit, the Malta Justice Initiative, says employers are likely to respond to expanded tax incentives. 73% of respondents indicated a tax credit would motivate hiring managers; subsidies would entice 76% of them.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is authorized through the end of 2019 through the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act. Its reauthorization process will now involve criminal justice reform insider Senator Chuck Grassley who is the new Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Grassley’s dedication to reforming the reentry process and his new positions prime him to optimize the tax code to help meet the president’s employment goal.
Amending the WOTC to expand eligibility beyond one year would likely go a long way in helping released prisoners secure employment as well as provide a boon to businesses.
Chandra Bozelko is the Vice President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and writes the Webby award-winning blog Prison Diaries.
The most overlooked and discriminated against segment of the American population is getting a well need boost. More and more people are looking for ways to help ex-offenders and felons better re-integrate into society. The closer we look at this, we find that the better we are able to help previously incarcerated individuals, the better off we all will be.
We will look at:
Incarceration in America
Fair Chance in Employment
Fair Chance in Education
Incarceration in America
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The International Centre for Prison Studies estimates that 724 out of every 100,000 American is in prison or jail.
There are over 600,000 people released from American jails and prisons every year. There are more than 70 million people in this country with some type of criminal record. Many want desperately to put their pasts behind them but their records continue to haunt them and ruin their chances to get jobs. The best and most important factor in the successful transition to society is that they find gainful employment. For most, this is not easy. In fact, some find it next to impossible. Without employment, many with criminal records will find themselves once again on the wrong side of the law, while others will will become burdens on the economy.
In the past, it was believed that ex-offenders and felons being shutout of employment was part of their sentences. It was almost guaranteed that people with criminal records would be routinely discriminated against when it came to employment and educational opportunities.
It cost about $40,000 to keep a person incarcerated. With a job, instead of going back to prison or becoming a drain on social services resources, previously incarcerated people could become taxpaying, law abiding citizens. This a win for society, the economy, families and individuals. With unemployment rates being the lowest in decades, employers are in need of qualified applicants to fill open positions. The Fair Chance initiative will be great for companies too.
Fair Chance in Employment
One of the most progressive initiatives of Barack Obama's administration was called the Fair Chance Pledge. The President called on businesses and educational institutions to help make this country stronger by pledging to remove barriers to employment and education for people with criminal records.
“Around 70 million Americans have some sort of criminal record … Now, a lot of time, that record disqualifies you from being a full participant in our society — even if you’ve already paid your debt to society. It means millions of Americans have difficulty even getting their foot in the door to try to get a job much less actually hang on to that job. That's bad for not only those individuals, it's bad for our economy. It’s bad for the communities that desperately need more role models who are gainfully employed. So we’ve got to make sure Americans who’ve paid their debt to society can earn their second chance.”
- President Obama, November 2, 2015
Sen. Booker introduces the Fair Chance Act
Though President Obama is no longer in office, many more companies and educational institutions have accepted the challenge to help remove the barriers that having a criminal record has placed in front of so many people. Four years ago, only 12 or so companies signed the pledge. The list now numbers in the hundreds. Large, mid-sized and small businesses all over the country have signed the pledge to help remove barriers to employment that ex-offenders and felons face.
These companies have pledged to:
Ban the Box
There are no questions on initial employment applications regarding criminal history. This allows employers to establish potential employees' qualifications. Background checks will only be done if the candidate is being seriously considered for employment. Of course the nature of the applicant's conviction will be taken into account.
Fair Chance Job Fairs
These companies advertise that their job fairs offer fair chance opportunities
Train Human Resources Staff on Fair Chance Practices
Managers and human resources staff will be trained to make fair hiring decisions as they relate to people with criminal records. They will keep accurate counts of those hired
Fair and Accurate Background Checks
They will use background check providers who provide current and accurate information.
Fair Chance Internships and Training
People with criminal records will have equal access to internships and training opportunities
The next step would to be to include Fair Chance for Occupational Licensing. Currently many trades that require licensing or certification are closed to ex-offenders and felons. Lawmakers and community action groups are pushing to make it easier for previously incarcerated people to obtain licenses. This would make it easier for people with criminal records to have job opportunities in healthcare, trade unions and other occupations
The fair chance initiative can give both applicants and hiring companies a valuable opportunity. Employers will be able to meet qualified candidates they might otherwise have overlooked, and previously incarcerated people get a shot at the second chance they need to help turn their lives around.
Fair Chance In Education
An estimated 70 million Americans have had contact with the criminal justice system. Statistics illustrate that non-whites are incarcerated at higher rates and face stiffer penalties than whites. This is attributed to racial profiling by police, limited access to proper legal defense and other factors. This disparity has a negative effect on families, communities and our society.
Beyond the Box
There is an increasing understanding that education plays a huge part in successful transition from prison to the greater society. Research shows employment and or education reduces the likely hood that individuals will re-offend by over 40 percent. It makes sense that the best way to ensure that formerly incarcerated people do not go back to prison is to remove the barriers to not only employment, but to education. This means that institutions of higher learning should have admissions practices that do not exclude those with criminal records. Part of these practices is not using one's legal past as criteria for admission. Also criminal records should not be used to determine eligibility for federal financial aid.
Educational institutions understand the value of classroom diversity and creating an atmosphere of inclusion on their campuses. They understand that educational opportunities translate into employment opportunities which in turn means safer, more prosperous communities. There advantages to the schools too. Schools that pledge fair admissions practices are eligible for grands and other federal funding for programs that help those with disabilities. There are also correctional facilities that partnering with colleges to provide degree programs and vocational training that will translate into greater employment opportunities upon release.
You can get a list of companies and schools who have taken the Fair Chance Pledge as well as other companies that hire ex-offenders and felons Click Here
Felons must properly prepare for the job search to be successful
Ex-offenders and felons looking for jobs often have a very hard time. Their criminal backgrounds often make it a little more difficult to get hired than the average job seeker. Jobs for felons will be a lot easier to obtain with hard work and proper preparation.
A successful job search will require the right tools. The first step will be assessing your tools which are your set of skills. Are you able to tell a prospective employer what you can do in ten minutes or less. If not, I suggest you make a list of your skills and be prepared to talk about them in a way that the employer will see the benefit.
Do you have a list of your previous employers handy for when it is time to complete an application? Don't wait until you have fill out one to look for this information. If your past jobs were on record and you had taxes taken out, you can get a list from the Social Security Administration. Check the blue pages of your local telephone book for the nearest office nearest to you.
Next, you will need proper documentation. Do you three forms of identification? You will need ID to get a job. You can get a copy of your Social Security card at your local office. Below is a link to the application for a replacement cards along with instructions. It will give you a head start. http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.pdf
Birth
Certificate
To obtain a copy of your birth certificate, contact the office
of vital statistics in the city where you were born.
Valid
Driver’s License
To obtain a copy of your driver’s license, contact your
local motor vehicle agency.It is listed
in your local telephone directory.Your
local motor vehicle agency may even offer “Identification Only” cards if you do
not have a driver’s license.
Photo
Identification
Many county agencies provide photo identification
cards.
Green
Card or Visa (if applicable)
To obtain copies of your visa or alien registration card
contact the office of Immigration and Naturalization.You can get the process of renewing or replacing your green card here:
Everyone looking for employment should have a resume. A resume will help you to present your best qualities in one neat package. It is a summary of your background, experience, training and skills. If you have a resume, have someone look at it to judge it's quality. If you do not have a well written resume, I suggest you get some help putting one together. You should leave a copy of your resume with everyone you speak to about a job
Next, do you have the right interview clothing? A well fitting suit with a nice shirt and tie would be perfect thing to wear. A new suit may not be possible for someone just getting back to the real world but I suggest that men at least have dress slacks, a light colored shirt and a matching tie. You should also have a pair of shoes that you can shine. Not boots, not sneakers…shoes! Many ex-offenders and felons get their interview clothing at thrift stores. They find quality clothes at very low prices, clean and press them and they are ready to do their best to get a job. No matter how you get them, the right clothes makes all the difference.
Lastly, you have to find really good job leads, a great place to start finding job leads is your local One-stop Career Center. You will not only find job leads in your area but you can get help with your resume and and other resources that can help in your job search. You can find the nearest One Stop Career Center Here: http://www.careeronestop.org/LocalHelp/service-locator.aspx
Here you will find open jobs in your area as well as a long list of Companies that Hire Ex-offenders and Felons: Click Here
This is a great start to a successful job search. Brush up on your interviewing skills and you will be ready to compete for a job.
Good Luck!
Felons must properly prepare for the job search to be successful
Jobs for Ex-offenders and Felons: Where can Ex-offenders Find Jobs
Jobs for Ex-offenders and Felons: Ten Steps to Getting a Job with a Criminal Record
Felons must properly prepare for the job search to be successful
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John Lauria spends his working hours driving a truck loaded with cases of juice, tea and energy drinks.
It’s quite an about-face for the 49-year-old Rosemead man who spent 30 years in and out of prison for drug and burglary offenses.
Since his last release three years ago, Lauria struggled to find a solid job. But that changed in February when, seemingly against all odds, he was hired as a truck driver for Haralambos Beverage Co. in City of Industry.
“When I applied for the job I was honest with them,” Lauria said. He got the job and now earns $17 an hour.
Lauria owes his turnaround in part to a growing U.S. labor shortage. As the long-haul trucking industry scrambles to fill openings for drivers, more than 40 large operators have tapped an unlikely labor source — felons.
The American Trucking Associations says the industry needs another 51,000 drivers to keep pace with increased shipping demands from Amazon, Walmart and other mega-retailers. The demand has prompted an increasing number of trucking companies to give non-violent, ex-offenders a second look.
Steps to a new life
Making the leap from inmate to employee doesn’t happen overnight. Training, either in prison or soon after release, is a key part of the transition.
El Monte Truck Driving school in Irwindale is among those helping get felons to work. Louie Pena, who handles recruiting and placement there, said the school skips background checks as it’s well known the trucking industry is often a lifeline for people with criminal histories.
“When someone pays $4,000 to $8,000 for training … they wouldn’t put up that kind of money if they weren’t serious,” he said. John Kearney, CEO of Advanced Training Systems, said hiring felons makes sense, as these job candidates are especially eager to find work. Kearney’s Florida-based company makes virtual simulators used to train truck drivers.
“The concern is where you draw the line in terms of their record,” he said.
Case-by-case basis
Knight Transportation, a Phoenix-based trucking company with local facilities in Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga, hires felons. But they are heavily vetted, according to Vice President T.J. Presley.
Applicants are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, he said, which includes checking their recent and past history while also looking at where they are in life now.
“There are a lot of great people out there who just came upon bad times,” Presley said.
Knight doesn’t hire felons whose convictions were as recent as five years ago. But those who are hired make good money.
“Entry-level drivers earn somewhere in the mid-$40,000-to-$50,000 range, and seasoned drivers can earn six figures,” Presley said. “We see a lot of turnover in the trucking industry because people with good, clean driving records are in high demand.”
R&R Transportation in Greensboro, N.C., also hires felons — providing that their crimes were nonviolent.
“If someone has a criminal record because they were arrested for drugs, whether it was 25 years ago or five years ago, that doesn’t matter,” company President Karl Robinson said. “But I wouldn’t hire anyone who was convicted of murder or did sex crimes.”
Nine of the companies hire people with convictions that are 10 years old or more while others will consider applicants whose convictions occurred as recently as five years ago. Still, others hire on a case-by-case basis.
A good time to be looking
The current climate is good for felons in search of work, according to economist Chris Thornberg, a founding partner with Beacon Economics.
“The shortage of truck drivers is just one reflection of the broader economic situation,” he said. “There are more job openings right now across the economy than there are people who want to work. So people who didn’t have that chance three, four or five years ago now have a chance.”
But they have some catching up to do. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4 percent in January, its lowest level in a decade, yet the jobless rate among the formerly incarcerated stood at 27 percent.
“Right now, if you have a record no one will hire you unless the company has a policy of accepting ex-offenders,” Kearney said. “There are plenty of people out there who have made mistakes in their lives but would have a tendency to go in the right direction if they had a job.”
Employment drives recidivism rates down
Landing a job also could keep felons from a return trip to prison.
More than half a million people are released from federal and state jails and prisons in the U.S. each year and about two-thirds will be rearrested within three years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice.
But a study by America Works and the Manhattan Institute shows recidivism rates dropped significantly for nonviolent offenders who found work shortly after leaving prison.
In prison-to-work programs in six cities across the country, states with overall recidivism rates of about 31 percent to 70 percent saw those rates plummet to as low as 3.3 percent for felons placed in jobs shortly after their release.
Ban the Box
California is among more than 30 states that have adopted a “ban the box” law. That prohibits private businesses with five or more workers from making pre-offer inquiries regarding a job applicant’s criminal history. Inquiries are allowed only after a conditional offer of employment is made.
Despite that law and a willingness on the part of many trucking companies to hire felons, driver shortages are still common. While R&R Transportation has 14 drivers and 13 trucks, Robinson said he’s always in the hole.
“You never have enough,” he said. “Once they get two years under their belt, other companies will hire them. You’re always going to have some attrition. But if you get the right person and they meld with the culture of the business, they will stay. It takes time to get good people.”
Lauria plans to become one of those “good” people. He hopes to gain a strong foothold in the trucking industry — and stay here.
“Getting this job is the best thing I ever did” he said. “Definitely.”
Trucking Jobs for Felons
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The next step, announced today at the Koch network’s winter meeting, is a “getting back to work initiative” designed to follow up on the legislation, launched in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, the trade association for human resources employees. The initiative will inform businesses on how to recruit, hire, and keep employees who were previously incarcerated.
Charles Koch told the assembled members of the network, “when you hear that one out of four [Americans have a criminal record], this isn’t just some small isolated piece, this involves everybody throughout society.”
SHRM’s CEO Johnny Taylor said his organization had found that as many as 80 percent of employers supported the idea of hiring felons – but a much smaller percentage had actually hired many. They found three main obstacles among employers. The first obstacle was legal compliance issues, including most federal agencies and contractors that deal with security issues or require a federal security clearance. The second was the perception of civil liability on the part of employers, and a fear that hiring a felon could lead to a lawsuit if the felon committed a crime on the job. The third, Taylor said, was a psychological NIBMY (Not In My Backyard) mentality – that plenty of employers and employees liked the idea of hiring felons, but not at their own workplaces. He’s hoping the “employer toolkit” offered by SHRM and the Koch network will mitigate those forces.
Taylor admitted the liability issue was one of the most challenging, as the potential legal risk to employers varied from state to state. He noted that studies indicate that felons who had been released from prison were no more likely to commit crimes in the workplace than employees with no criminal records.
“Regardless of the employee, you do your diligence,” said Mark Holden, the general counsel for Koch Industries. “We’ve been hiring people with criminal records for as long as I’ve been here, about quarter of a century, and we’ve never had that issue. When you hire someone, either way, you’re taking a chance on them. We’ve hired people from the best schools, from the best background, and we’ve later found they’ve stolen from us.”
Taylor said that depending upon the measuring stick, there are anywhere from 6.6 million to 7 million unfilled jobs in the United States right now, and each year, roughly 650,000 people leave prison and reenter society.
“The First Step Act’s prison reform elements include education and skill training,” Holden said. “More people are going to be coming out for prison skilled and ready to go, ready to get back in the game. When employers choose to put applications of convicted felons in the wastepaper basket, it’s a huge wasted opportunity. A lot of these people are very hungry and very humble.”
Chris Wright, the chief executive officer of Liberty Oilfield Services, said that in his experience, released felons “have a passion to prove themselves. Really, you’re hiring the heart. If they’re going to work hard when no one is looking, and if they’re someone who will do the right thing, even under stress, you’re going to win.”
Holden noted that the while the Koch network pushed for the First Step Act and is eager to see America’s businesses start hiring the recently released, they oppose government mandates requiring employers to hire felons, and want to see employers freely embrace the option.
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