Help Wanted: Detroit dumps felony question from job applications..

[Analog]

Detroit --The City Council today unanimously voted to change city law to remove a question about felony convictions from job applications.
In doing so, the city joins numerous cities nationwide that have done so. Advocates say removing the question until later in the hiring process helps to provide second chances to as many as 10,000 felons who are released from prison each year and return to Detroit.

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[Nik]

So they spent a ton of money to get together and make a decision to remove it from the application... then businesses have to spend money to have their applications rewritten and printed (or online, whatever)... and now the hiring manager has to wade through even more applications and waste his time with an interview just to ask the same damn question before turning them down when they could have just ignored the application to begin with?

Wow, Detroit, you suck balls!

 

[meltdown75]

lol detroit

 

[Wyndru]

WTF? Do they not have unemployment issues there, and really have a need to allow larger applicant pools?

 

[rcpratt]

Detroit --The City Council today unanimously voted to change city law to remove a question about felony convictions from job applications.
In doing so, the city joins numerous cities nationwide that have done so. Advocates say removing the question until later in the hiring process helps to provide second chances to as many as 10,000 felons who are released from prison each year and return to Detroit.

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But because it's Detroit I guess it's funny.

 

[OutHouse]

So they spent a ton of money to get together and make a decision to remove it from the application... then businesses have to spend money to have their applications rewritten and printed (or online, whatever)... and now the hiring manager has to wade through even more applications and waste his time with an interview just to ask the same damn question before turning them down when they could have just ignored the application to begin with?

Wow, Detroit, you suck balls!

so you are in favor of keeping a man down for a felony he committed 20+ years ago did his time and has been a good boy ever since his slip up? gee thats mighty human of you.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I'm actually okay with this. I hate the fact that people who get convicted of felonies, even if they never served a day in jail, are basically screwed for the rest of their lives when it comes to getting a good job regardless of what type of felony we're talking about.

They need to just take it a step further and say that they are not allowed to even ask the question. If we are a society that truly believes a person has served their time and therefore should be allowed to continue with their lives then we shouldn't continue to label them after that time has been served.

 

[Nik]

so you are in favor of keeping a man down for a felony he committed 20+ years ago did his time and has been a good boy ever since his slip up? gee thats mighty human of you.

No, but thanks for cramming words down my throat. Saves me money on buying lunch today!



I'm in favor of keeping the felony bit ON the application. I've BEEN a hiring manager and there's not many things that irritate me more than wasting time to set up and carry out an interview that goes down in flames because of something omitted from the application.

The application is there for a reason.

If I see two felony applications, one of them shows a guy who just got out of prison for something petty (say, weed or something) and the other one shows a guy out of prison for 20 years after a murder but has a clean record since then and a stable work history, I'd be willing to call the murderer while tossing the weed dude's application in the trash.

Bam, saved me and the denied applicant tons of wasted time.

 

[Possessed Freak]

so you are in favor of keeping a man down for a felony he committed 20+ years ago did his time and has been a good boy ever since his slip up? gee thats mighty human of you.

Some jobs I think the question shouldn't be asked. Others it absolutely should be. Hopefully this is not a blanket form for all city jobs.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

I'm actually okay with this. I hate the fact that people who get convicted of felonies, even if they never served a day in jail, are basically screwed for the rest of their lives when it comes to getting a good job regardless of what type of felony we're talking about.

They need to just take it a step further and say that they are not allowed to even ask the question. If we are a society that truly believes a person has served their time and therefore should be allowed to continue with their lives then we shouldn't continue to label them after that time has been served.

should've thought twice about committing that felony.

 

[Paladin3]

I'm job hunting at the moment and most of the applications I've filled out don't stop at asking about felonies, they want to know if you have ANY criminal history at all. Anything short of a 100% clean record and no job for you.

When you have a record and can't find a decent job you're much more likely to resort back to your former criminal ways to make a living, and that is a net negative for society as a whole.

 

[yllus]

I'm okay with this too. Once you serve and get out it shouldn't be anyone's business.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I'm actually okay with this. I hate the fact that people who get convicted of felonies, even if they never served a day in jail, are basically screwed for the rest of their lives when it comes to getting a good job regardless of what type of felony we're talking about.

They need to just take it a step further and say that they are not allowed to even ask the question. If we are a society that truly believes a person has served their time and therefore should be allowed to continue with their lives then we shouldn't continue to label them after that time has been served.

Maybe they should change it from "Do you have a felony?", to "Do you have more then 1 felony?"

hahaha

 

[zinfamous]

I don't see this as a bad idea. The entire point of our penal system is reform--not recitivism. Anyone who says otherwise simply has no clue.

 

[zinfamous]

No, but thanks for cramming words down my throat. Saves me money on buying lunch today!



I'm in favor of keeping the felony bit ON the application. I've BEEN a hiring manager and there's not many things that irritate me more than wasting time to set up and carry out an interview that goes down in flames because of something omitted from the application.

The application is there for a reason.

If I see two felony applications, one of them shows a guy who just got out of prison for something petty (say, weed or something) and the other one shows a guy out of prison for 20 years after a murder but has a clean record since then and a stable work history, I'd be willing to call the murderer while tossing the weed dude's application in the trash.

Bam, saved me and the denied applicant tons of wasted time.

So you're saying you'd hire a convicted murderer over a dude that once had an ~ounce of weed on his person?

:hmm:

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm not putting words in your mouth, here.

 

[Marinski]

No, but thanks for cramming words down my throat. Saves me money on buying lunch today!



I'm in favor of keeping the felony bit ON the application. I've BEEN a hiring manager and there's not many things that irritate me more than wasting time to set up and carry out an interview that goes down in flames because of something omitted from the application.

The application is there for a reason.

If I see two felony applications, one of them shows a guy who just got out of prison for something petty (say, weed or something) and the other one shows a guy out of prison for 20 years after a murder but has a clean record since then and a stable work history, I'd be willing to call the murderer while tossing the weed dude's application in the trash.

Bam, saved me and the denied applicant tons of wasted time.

So somebody that smokes weed is worse in your eyes than somebody that may have taken another persons life?? How ignorant is that.

 

[ussfletcher]

The article is talking about job applications in Detroit for city employees, I believe. Also it plainly states that the question will be saved for later in the application process...

 

[acheron]

whoooosh

 

[jersiq]

should've thought twice about committing that felony.

The debt to society has already been paid as per the judge/penal system.

 

[Nik]

So somebody that smokes weed is worse in your eyes than somebody that may have taken another persons life?? How ignorant is that.

You completely missed my point.

 

[zinfamous]

You completely missed my point.

You mean the point about how you'd hire a convicted murderer over some dude that was probably carrying some weed on him?

:hmm:

 

[Marinski]

You completely missed my point.

I wasnt the only one.

 

[Nik]

So you're saying you'd hire a convicted murderer over a dude that once had an ~ounce of weed on his person?

:hmm:

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm not putting words in your mouth, here.

You I'll reply to, sir.

Even someone with a heinous crime on their record 20 years ago who's already paid their debt to society (they'd have to be older in this scenario) had time to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, change their life, become an upstanding member of society etc (like I described in fewer words in what you quoted) is worth far more to me than someone who's only just recently served their time and has no track record (this is the important part) to show that they're no longer willing to break the law. Taking a felon onto your payroll puts the company at risk. I'd be much more inclined to take said risk if the felon has some sort of proof to show that they're trust worthy again.

Weed isn't important, I just picked it because it was the first thing that came into my head when I was trying to think of something petty that could still get you a felony.

It's the same reason my roommate and I ask about felonies when we interview roommates.

 

[zinfamous]

You I'll reply to, sir.

Even someone with a heinous crime on their record 20 years ago who's already paid their debt to society (they'd have to be older in this scenario) had time to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, change their life, become an upstanding member of society etc (like I described in fewer words in what you quoted) is worth far more to me than someone who's only just recently served their time and has no track record (this is the important part) to show that they're no longer willing to break the law. Taking a felon onto your payroll puts the company at risk. I'd be much more inclined to take said risk if the felon has some sort of proof to show that they're trust worthy again.

Weed isn't important, I just picked it because it was the first thing that came into my head when I was trying to think of something petty that could still get you a felony.

It's the same reason my roommate and I ask about felonies when we interview roommates.

I totally agree with all that, and see what you were saying. But...man, you sure chose a horrible comparison.

 

[Nik]

I did it on purpose to make people think, to broaden one's view of the world perhaps.