Relates to unlawful discriminatory practices; requires employers to make a conditional offer of employment before inquiring about any criminal convictions of a prospective employee.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3972
SPONSOR: Aubry TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring employers to
make a conditional offer of employment before inquiring about any crimi-
nal convictions of a prospective employee
PURPOSE:
This bill will curtail unlawful discriminatory practices against persons
with criminal records and help to ensure that employers abide by the
provisions of Article 23-A of the correction law.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends the Human Rights Law to provide that no
employer may ask about a criminal conviction unless such employer first
makes a conditional offer of employment. Such offer could then be with-
drawn in accordance with Article 23-A of the correction law where there
is a direct relationship between the employment and the conviction and
hiring the person would threaten public safety or property.
Section 2 of the bill provides that the act shall take effect on the
ninetieth day after it shall have become law.
JUSTIFICATION:
Upon return to the community following incarceration, individuals are
expected to find and maintain gainful employment. Finding effective ways
to manage their reentry into the workforce is critical to promoting
public safety and curbing recidivism rates and the high costs of re-in-
carceration. Unfortunately, many employers maintain blanket barriers to
employment based solely on criminal conviction records even when the
conviction may be completely unrelated to the job sought and no threat
to the public or property is present.
Article 23-A of the correction law prohibits discrimination against a
person with a criminal record unless the duties or responsibilities of
the job or license sought are directly related to the conviction. This
,bill will help to ensure that employers abide by the standards of Arti-
cle 23A and do-n of automatically disqualify applicants based only on a
criminal conviction.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A2990 Passed the Assembly in 2015 and was Ordered to Third Reading in
2016
A.4869 was reported, referred to codes in 2013 and 2014.
A.7782 of 2012 reported, referred to codes
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Successful re-entry and re-integration of formerly incarcerated individ-
uals will increase state revenues through the inclusion of thousands of
able-bodied, "taxpaying citizens" to the state's workforce; additional
savings to the state will inure from a reduction in costs associated
with recidivism, re-incarceration and social services.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3972
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. AUBRY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring employers to
make a conditional offer of employment before inquiring about any
criminal convictions of a prospective employee
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 296 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 15-a to read as follows:
3 15-a. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice, unless specif-
4 ically required or permitted by statute, for any prospective employer,
5 including any person, agency, bureau, corporation or association,
6 including the state and any political subdivision thereof, to make an
7 inquiry about, whether in any form of application or otherwise, or to
8 act upon adversely to the individual involved based upon, any criminal
9 conviction of such individual unless such employer first makes a condi-
10 tional offer of employment to such individual. Such conditional offer of
11 employment may only subsequently be withdrawn on the basis of a criminal
12 conviction in accordance with article twenty-three-A of the correction
13 law where such conviction bears a direct relationship, as such term is
14 defined in subdivision three of section seven hundred fifty of the
15 correction law, to the specific position being offered, or the granting
16 of such employment would involve an unreasonable risk to property or to
17 the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
19 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06481-01-9
