‘Fair Chance Act’ may require federal government to ‘ban the box’

Fair Chance Act,” would prevent all three branches of the federal government from asking job applicants questions about their criminal records on a government job application. The Fair Chance Act would prevent background checks from being conducted until the government is ready to offer a position to the applicant. The bill would “ban the box” on federal contractor job applications as well. Jobs related to national security and law enforcement would, of course, be exceptions to the federal ban-the-box legislation if it were to pass. Despite disagreements between the political parties, senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties have signed off on the Fair Chance Act. “[W]e want to see every American succeed. That’s a goal we all share,” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who is the chair of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs committee, and the co-sponsor of the Fair Chance Act. The bill is expected to succeed in the Senate, and a similar bill is currently working its way through the House of Representatives. Ban the box legislation has been passed in 19 states (plus the District of Columbia) and more than 100 cities and counties in the U.S.]]>