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Ban the box

Ban the box

What are ban-the-box laws, and what do they mean for your organization? Read on to learn more about this movement and to determine where ban-the-box legislation has been passed, whether or not they apply to you, and how your organization can comply with this legislative trend.

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The Fair Chance Act and Ban the Box Legislation Blog Post

The Fair Chance Act and Ban the Box Legislation

All Federal and State LawsOver the past decade, few trends in background checks have been more notable than the wave of ban the box legislation.

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Are Ban the Box Regulations Helping or Hurting Minority Workers? Blog Post

Are "Ban the Box" Regulations Helping or Hurting Minority Workers?

Across America, more than half of the states have adopted a "ban the box" policy. Aimed at removing questions about criminal history from job applicat...

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Ban the Box Reaches Rental Applications in Detroit Blog Post

Ban the Box Reaches Rental Applications in Detroit

“Ban the box” policies are laws and ordinances that prohibit some inquiries into criminal history, and they are not new.

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Congress to Consider Federal Ban the Box Law Blog Post

Congress to Consider Federal Ban the Box Law

The “ban the box” movement is nothing new, with nearly three dozen states enacting some form of prohibition against asking job applicants up front abo...

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Connecticut Passes the Amended Ban the Box Bill Blog Post

Connecticut Passes the Amended Ban the Box Bill

The modified “Ban the Box” bill states, “No employer shall inquire about a prospective employee’s prior arrests, criminal charges, or convictions on a...

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Tennessee Un-Bans the Box Blog Post

Tennessee Un-Bans the Box

The bill specifies that local governments also cannot require businesses to stop asking criminal background questions as a condition of doing business...

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Koch Industries Becomes Latest Corporation to Ban the Box Blog Post

Koch Industries Becomes Latest Corporation to Ban the Box

Koch Industries, one of the biggest private companies in the world, has officially banned the box. The Kansas-based corporation has reportedly removed...

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Compliance Guidelines for Minnesota’s Ban the Box Law Blog Post

Compliance Guidelines for Minnesota’s Ban the Box Law

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is charged with enforcing the new law. The department recently published its Technical Guidance 364.021 in ad...

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San Francisco Enacts Ban the Box Legislation, Seeks to Limit Use of Pre-Employment Background Checks Blog Post

San Francisco Enacts "Ban the Box" Legislation, Seeks to Limit Use of Pre-Employment Background Checks

As of February 17, San Francisco is one of the latest and largest proponents of "ban the box" legislation in the United States. According to a recent ...

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Ban the Box? Some Municipalities Go the Other Way Blog Post

Ban the Box? Some Municipalities Go the Other Way

Providing a path back to employment for formerly incarcerated individuals is a common goal, but not every locale is on board with the sweeping "ban th...

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A Mid-Year Ban the Box Compliance Report: Ban the Box Blog Post

A Mid-Year Ban the Box Compliance Report: Ban the Box

2020 has been a hectic year for everyone, but especially for employers. First, businesses had to contend with the stay-at-home orders wrought by COVID...

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Colorado and New Mexico Ban the Box; Others Face Enforcement Issues Blog Post

Colorado and New Mexico Ban the Box; Others Face Enforcement Issues

A criminal record, regardless of the charges, is often a barrier to employment that ex-offenders find difficult to overcome. While more than half of U...

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One Study Suggests Ban the Box Rules May Have Unintended Consequences Blog Post

One Study Suggests Ban the Box Rules May Have Unintended Consequences

To date, nine states have taken steps to enact "ban the box" laws that prohibit public and private employers from asking individuals about their crimi...

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Indiana Governor Signs Executive Order to Ban the Box Blog Post

Indiana Governor Signs Executive Order to Ban the Box

Job searchers looking for work in Indiana’s public sector will no longer be expected to answer questions about their criminal history on job applicati...

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New Requirements Could Be Coming to NYC's Ban the Box Law Blog Post

New Requirements Could Be Coming to NYC's Ban the Box Law

In October 2015, New York City's "Fair Chance Act," officially banning the box for all private and public employers operating within city limits went ...

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OPM Proposes Federal Ban the Box Rule Blog Post

OPM Proposes Federal Ban the Box Rule

Federal legislators are in the midst of proposing a ban the box law that would apply to all employers nationwide—both public and private. However, whi...

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Vermont Bans the Box Blog Post

Vermont Bans the Box

Under the new law, an employer may inquire about a prospective employee’s criminal history record in an interview or once the prospective employee has...

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A Federal Ban the Box Bill Is Currently Pending Blog Post

A Federal Ban the Box Bill Is Currently Pending

For the past few years, there has been arguably no headline staple in the background check world as consistent as the ban the box movement. Slowly, mo...

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Tennessee Ban the Box Bill Is Nearly Law Blog Post

Tennessee Ban the Box Bill Is Nearly Law

From the looks of it, Tennessee will soon add its name to the list of states that bans the box for public employers. A bill to remove questions pertai...

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City of Portland Bans the Box and More Blog Post

City of Portland Bans the Box and More

The City of Portland, Oregon has passed an ordinance (No. 187459) to ban the box, and more, effective July 1, 2016. The City’s ordinance is more restr...

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Florida Eyeing Ban the Box Policy for State Job Applications Blog Post

Florida Eyeing Ban the Box Policy for State Job Applications

Florida could well be the next state to embrace ban the box legislation. State Representative Randolph Bracy is reportedly co-sponsoring a bill that w...

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Philadelphia Toughens Its Ban-the-Box Ordinance Blog Post

Philadelphia Toughens Its Ban-the-Box Ordinance

In July 2011, Philadelphia was one of the first cities to enact a ban-the-box ordinance. The ordinance, cited as the Fair Criminal Screening Standards...

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Hillary Clinton Wants to Ban the Box for Federal Job Applicants Blog Post

Hillary Clinton Wants to Ban the Box for Federal Job Applicants

The topic of pre-employment screening has officially become a part of the 2016 Presidential Election cycle. According to a recent report from TIME, Hi...

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Does Seattle's Ban the Box Ordinance Go Too Far? Blog Post

Does Seattle's "Ban the Box" Ordinance Go Too Far?

As the Fair Chance employment movement continues to gather speed, Seattle is recognized as being one of the few cities nationwide to ban the box for b...

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Newark, Ohio Prepares to Ban the Box After Powerful Speeches from Ex-Offenders Blog Post

Newark, Ohio Prepares to Ban the Box After Powerful Speeches from Ex-Offenders

The news that the town of Newark, Ohio is considering "ban the box" legislation seems like small change when compared to the fact that New York City r...

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New York City Mayor Signs Ban the Box Legislation in the Law Blog Post

New York City Mayor Signs "Ban the Box" Legislation in the Law

It's official: New York City has banned the box for private employers, becoming the biggest city yet to take that step in the United States. On Monday...

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Oregon Becomes the Seventh State to Ban the Box for Private Employers Blog Post

Oregon Becomes the Seventh State to Ban the Box for Private Employers

Oregon is giving the Fair Chance employment movement its latest boost. The state has officially banned the box for private employers, becoming only th...

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New York City Moves to Ban the Box for All Employers Blog Post

New York City Moves to Ban the Box for All Employers

The Fair Chance hiring movement appears to have scored a real coup, as New York City moves ahead with a plan to "ban the box" for private employers. I...

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Will 'Ban the Box' Legislation Be Passed for Federal Contractors? Blog Post

Will 'Ban the Box' Legislation Be Passed for Federal Contractors?

In case you needed proof that "ban the box" polices were continuing to gather steam, consider this: recently, nearly 200 special interest groups bande...

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Oregon Wants to Ban the Box and Much More Blog Post

Oregon Wants to Ban the Box and Much More

House Bill 3025 House Bill 3025 defines “employer” to mean any person, company, corporation, firm, labor organization, or association that regularly e...

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Indianapolis and Marion County Ban the Box Blog Post

Indianapolis and Marion County Ban the Box

Indianapolis (and Marion County) is following the lead of many other jurisdictions that have recently adopted ban-the-box laws. These laws refer to th...

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New Jersey Takes “Ban the Box” One Step Further with New Background Check Bill Blog Post

New Jersey Takes “Ban the Box” One Step Further with New Background Check Bill

State governments throughout the country have taken 2013 as an opportunity to “ban the box” and require the removal of any questions about criminal hi...

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New Orleans Mayor Makes a Push to Make His City the Next to Embrace “Ban the Box” Policies Blog Post

New Orleans Mayor Makes a Push to Make His City the Next to Embrace “Ban the Box” Policies

Proposals to “ban the box” asking questions about previous criminal history as part of job applications have proven to be arguably the biggest trend i...

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Another Look at Newark’s Ban the Box Ordinance Blog Post

Another Look at Newark’s Ban the Box Ordinance

A specific question was asked about whether the ordinance applied to independent insurance agents or insurance producers. That is, whether an employer...

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Philadelphia is another City to Join Ban the Box Trend Blog Post

Philadelphia is another City to Join Ban the Box Trend

Very often, when you apply for a job, there is a box on the application which must be checked if you have ever been arrested or convicted. This lets e...

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South Carolina Town Shuts Down Ban the Box Ordinance Blog Post

South Carolina Town Shuts Down Ban the Box Ordinance

One of the major trends in the background check industry over the past couple of years has been the spread of “ban the box” legislation, laws that hav...

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Banning the box - The Whens, The Whys and The Wheres Blog Post

Banning the box - The Whens, The Whys and The Wheres

Over the past six years, many cities and counties have decided to “ban the box,” eliminating the standard question “Have you ever been convicted of a ...

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Ban the Box: Summer 2021 Update Blog Post

Ban the Box: Summer 2021 Update

We look at the latest updates in ban the box legislation, including a bill that could take ban the box nationwide, jurisdictions broadening ban the bo...

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How Long Does It Take for a Pending Charge to Show up on a Background Check? Blog Post

How Long Does It Take for a Pending Charge to Show up on a Background Check?

Most of the time, we think of criminal background checks as tools to find out about a person’s criminal convictions. Because arrest records without co...

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Connecticut Passes the Amended Ban the Box Bill Blog Post

Connecticut Passes the Amended Ban the Box Bill

The modified “Ban the Box” bill states, “No employer shall inquire about a prospective employee’s prior arrests, criminal charges, or convictions on a...

Learn more
Koch Industries Becomes Latest Corporation to Ban the Box Blog Post

Koch Industries Becomes Latest Corporation to Ban the Box

Koch Industries, one of the biggest private companies in the world, has officially banned the box. The Kansas-based corporation has reportedly removed...

Learn more
Ban the box Blog Post

Ban the box

What are ban-the-box laws, and what do they mean for your organization? Read on to learn more about this movement and to determine where ban-the-box l...

Learn more
Fair Chance Act and Ban the Box Legislation Whitepaper

Fair Chance Act and Ban the Box Legislation

Over the past decade, few trends in background checks have been more notable than the wave of ban the box legislation.

Learn more