Dive Brief:
- State agencies in Arizona will "ban the box," removing questions about criminal history from job applications, according to the Arizona Daily Sun.
- The state joins several other Arizona cities with the move, including Flagstaff, Tucson, Tempe and Phoenix, the paper reports.
- The mandate came in an executive order from the governor, who also struck a deal between the state's department of corrections and ride-sharing giant Uber to help workers without transportation get to their job sites if no public transit is available.
Dive Insight:
Roughly 150 states and cities have adopted similar measures as a way to help applicants with criminal records move past initial hiring screens, according to the National Employment Law Project. Many, however, allow employers to consider convictions later, especially if it has implications for the position.
California recently expanded its law to include private employers, after first banning the box for state agencies.
Attorneys recommend that employers subject to these laws update their applications and train all staff involved in hiring on the new requirements.
