There is a growing national trend to “ban the box,” or prohibit questions about a job applicant’s criminal history on employment applications, according to the third-quarter North American issue of the Legs & Regs Advisor. The Advisor is produced by Staffing Industry Analysts in conjunction with employment law firm Littler Mendelson.

Currently, “ban the box” laws primarily target public employers; however, there are increasing efforts to impose these same restrictions on private employers. New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco have become the latest jurisdictions to pass such legislation while laws are already in place in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island, as well as various cities and municipalities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission notes that, according to one study, 92 percent of employers use criminal background checks in at least some aspect of their hiring procedures. The recent trend of “ban the box” laws and EEOC Guidance serve as important reminders that this information can only be used in a narrowly tailored fashion, according to the Advisor.

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