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Bethlehem waiting to ask job seekers about criminal records
Come March 14, Bethlehem no longer will ask each job applicant up front about a criminal record.
That information, however, will be divulged prior to hiring. By opting to wait, the city joins a national movement pushed by civil rights advocates to "ban the box."
Advocates argue that many applicants with criminal records are passed over without considering his or her qualifications for a job, making employment difficult for thousands of otherwise competent people.
Allentown removed the question on its applications last year. Easton is considering the move, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said.
"By eliminating the requirement that one disclose a criminal conviction on the initial application, we can now attract the broadest group of applicants for each vacant position." Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez said in a statement. "Once it has been determined that a candidate is qualified for the position and is a finalist, then a criminal background check will be conducted."
As in Allentown, applicants for police, firefighter, paramedic and emergency dispatcher still will be required to make the disclosure up front.
The cities of Lancaster, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and Allegheny County also have banned the box, according to the National Employment Law Project. Fourteen states have at least one city with such policies and 19 have a statewide law or policy, according to the law project. Legislation was introduced last year in the Pennsylvania House.
In November, President Barack Obama announced he will direct the federal Office of Personnel Management to delay inquiries into a job applicant's criminal history until later in the hiring process.
The movement has picked up several endorsements, including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the NAACP.
In January, the keynote speaker at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at St. James AME Zion Church in Allentown pledged his support.
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