Thursday, February 23, 2012

Volunteer Opportunity: Ban the Box

The Council on Crime and Justice is joining up with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to investigate compliance with the 2009 Ban the Box legislation, and we would appreciate CJL’s assistance.

BTB prohibits public employers from inquiring into the criminal history of a job applicant until that applicant has been selected for an interview. Minn. Stat. 364.021. By banning the box, employers must consider the qualifications and merit of each applicant, rather than judging each solely upon a criminal record. However, in a survey conducted by CCJ in 2010, approximately half of responding county seats and counties in the state reported implementing the change. We would like to again audit these public employers and more, over the course of the next few months.

Students interested in assisting with the audit would pull public employment applications from online postings, accessing websites such as:

https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/JobPosting

http://www.indeed.com/ and

https://www.governmentjobs.com/display.cfm?SubCatID=1

After we have culled together a critical mass of applications, students will work with the Department and CCJ to interview and educate the agencies to ensure immediate compliance.

Please email mnjusticeleague@gmail.com if you would like to help.