Governor Deval Patrick, returning to one of the more contentious issues of his campaign, has begun quietly putting together a plan to limit employers’ access to the criminal records of potential employees.
Aides have been meeting with lawmakers and advocates working to limit the scope of the Criminal Offender Record Information law, which gives many employers broad access to criminal records. Activists argue that many applicants are rejected for jobs based on minor criminal convictions, crimes unrelated to the post, or records that contain errors.
What a silly thing to do. It seems to me that an employer should be able to consider any criminal conviction of a potential employee regardless if some “critic” feels that the conviction is relevant to the job being hired for or not. What if the job in question is stocking shelves and the person applying for it has a DUI? Or is guilty of writing bad checks? Certainly those are somewhat minor crimes to some and not really related to putting goods on shelves, but what if this employer likes to promote employees? What if the jobs a stockperson could be promoted to include handling money at a cashier or driving a company vehicle? Shouldn’t the fact that the applicant has a history of financial problems and fraud, or a history of irresponsible behavior behind the wheel of a vehicle, be considered?
And is this fair to those applicants who haven’t bounced checks, gotten DUI’s or been convicted of any other minor crime?
It seems to me that an employer has a right to know who he/she is hiring, and that the government shouldn’t be trying to keep that sort of information out of their hands.