Helping employers overcome resistance to hiring people with criminal records

I asked members of the Green Pathways Out of Poverty working group what advice they'd give on helping employers overcome resistance to hiring the formerly incarcerated. Below are a couple of responses I received. I welcome you to post your own comments and suggestions on how to help people with records gain employment and re-enter society.

Jayne Sheridan from Vermont Works for Women replied:

There are two carrots that training programs can use to help employers hire folks with criminal records both administered by each state's department of labor. That said we have had limited success with these tools...mostly we develop a relationship with an employer and they hire based on our relationship with them and the employment support we provide women in our programs not these options.  Would really love to hear what others have to say.  

So the 2 Department of Labor options are:
1) Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal tax credit available to all private sector businesses. It was designed as an incentive to employers to hire individuals in certain targeted groups who consistently experience high rates of unemployment due to a variety of employment barriers. WOTC is a tool for job seekers in these targeted groups to use to help them obtain gainful employment so that they may acquire the skills and experience needed to be eligible for better, higher paying job opportunities. By taking advantage of the WOTC, an employer may reduce its federal tax liability by up to $9,000 per new hire while filling its staffing needs. WOTC savings can be used to offset the high costs of hiring and training new workers.

The WOTC applies only to new employees. The new employee may not have worked for the hiring employer anytime in the past and may not be a relative, dependent or a majority owner of the business. The tax credit is available for new hires with job start dates through August 31, 2011. Use the links below to learn more about WOTC."

2) Federal Bonding through the Department of Labor: 

"The Purpose of the Bonding Program is: To assist ex-offenders and other at-risk persons with questionable backgrounds secure jobs, which might be denied employment due to their previous personal or employment history.
To help protect employers from loss of money or property, due to dishonest actions of the potential employee.
The bonding program is a tool for marketing an applicant to prospective employers." 

Hope this is clear and what you are looking for.

Jayne

Janet Marinaccio from Goodwill Industries International replied:

You may want to reach out to the National HIRE Network (www.hirenetwork.org), whose work focuses on individuals with criminal records and barriers to reintegration.  Contact Roberta Meyers-Peeples, Director, rampeeples(at)lac.org, 212-243-1313 ext 135. You can tell her I referred you. 

Pam Hogan is the author of a book "From Prison to Paycheck" that offers helpful info as well.

Here are some guidelines that could be used  (from a policy manual I wrote while working at a local Goodwill):

 *   The [employment] determination may include the applicant’s number of convictions, the nature and seriousness of     the criminal history, the length of time since the last conviction and the nature of the position the person is applying     for.

 *   If a felony conviction is present, and the previous record does not represent an unreasonable risk of harm (correlated     between nature of job and potential for risk) to the organization, its customers, other employees or persons served,     the person will be considered for employment.

*    If a felony conviction is present, and the previous record represents an unreasonable risk of harm to the     organization, its customers, other employees or persons served, the person will not be considered for employment.

An option is the Federal Bonding Program http://www.bonds4jobs.com/. to provide Fidelity Bonds that guarantee honesty for “at-risk”, hard-to-place job seekers. The bonds cover the first six months of employment. There is no cost to the job applicant or the employer.

Some Green For All friends in Los Angeles also recommend the Ex Offender Job Search Handbook, published in 2005 by the Department of Labor, as a valuable resource.

Mindy Feldbaum from Academy for Educational Development replied:

, which had some useful tips. It is at least 10 years old but all the same advice would still apply.

Thanks for the encouraging new paradigms in training people whom experienced incarceration.  Many will discover these individuals are very talented, capable and loyal employees.  I always pondered 'when does the punishment end and the stigma go away"