The rights of employees are an important component of the hiring process, both in terms of what they're entitled to when they're being interviewed and what privileges they're empowered with after securing a position. This even includes employee benefits, as companies that employ at least 100 or more workers are required to offer health insurance to all of their full-time workers, per the Affordable Care Act.
During the hiring phase, businesses know that there are some inquiries that are off-limits, like those that question political or religious affiliation, sexual orientation or ethnicity. These are all done to protect the fundamental rights of the worker. There's another question that some are trying to make similarly out of bounds countrywide, but doing so, many companies argue, is unfair to the entities doing the hiring.
Called Ban the Box, the campaign calls for employers to no longer ask questions of potential hires that delve into their criminal history, providing details on if they've ever been on the wrong side of the law. However, based on a recent poll, nearly half – 48 percent – say that Ban the Box laws put the company in an unfavorable position, not being able to fully vet a prospective employee who may serve in an important role where this kind of information is necessary.
Nick Fishman, chief marketing officer for human resources services firm EmployeeScreenIQ – which commissioned the poll – noted that because employees are representatives of their companies, employers desire to learn about job seekers' histories.
"Most employers want to know about their candidates' criminal pasts, and the majority of those want that information up front," Fishman explained. "To date, this desire has trumped compliance concerns associated with Ban the Box laws and the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's] guidance."
He added that with Ban the Box laws being enacted on an almost daily basis, it bears watching to determine how employers react.
Three states have statewide policy
More than 100 cities throughout the country have enacted one or several aspects of Ban the Box laws in 18 states, including Texas, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona. In some places, Ban the Box policies are statewide, including New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska.
Queries about criminal history, whether due to Ban the Box policies or not, are less common today than they used to be as recently as 2014. EmployeeScreenIQ reported that 53 percent of companies in a poll done this year said they asked prospective hires to disclose information about criminal history. That's down from 66 percent when a similar poll was done 12 months ago.
20 percent of companies have asked prohibited question
Though it has yet to be determined if Ban the Box laws will gain more of a following among other cities and/or states – 17 states don't have any on the books – employers confess that they have asked questions of prospective workers that they later learned they shouldn't have. Roughly 1 in 5 hiring managers in a recent survey done by job listings website CareerBuilder said that they queried an applicant about an off-limits issue, not realizing it was a taboo topic some time afterward.
"It's important for both interviewer and interviewee to understand what employers do and don't have a legal right to ask in a job interview – for both parties' protection," said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder chief human resources officer. "Though their intentions may be harmless, hiring managers could unknowingly be putting themselves at risk for legal action, as a job candidate could argue that certain questions were used to discriminate against him or her."
Questions about debt, marital status, disability, age, pregnancy and health behaviors – like smoking – are all off-limits. However, nearly 33 percent of respondents in the poll were unaware of at least one of these topics that can't be referenced in an interview or on a job application.
