Landing a quality job has been made a little easier for the millions of Americans who have prior drug convictions, thanks to new laws erasing certain criminal records. These states are removing restrictions that tend to sideline many talented job seekers rather than improve candidate quality.
But employers don’t need to wait for their states to enact these laws to change how they view drug convictions in their own hiring practices.
Drug convictions create a permanent record that can lead to significant barriers to opportunity, including loss of employment, housing, and vital support services. These barriers disproportionately impact communities of color that have been overpoliced and targeted throughout the war on drugs.
Our respective organizations, the employment website Indeed, and the reentry provider, The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) – have teamed up to expand access to career pathways for people with prior convictions.
Our work with employers and job seekers with records has shown us the impact fair chance hiring has on transforming lives, workplaces, and communities.
One way for employers to expand access for those with past convictions today is to relax or remove restrictions around hiring people with low-level drug convictions, including marijuana possession.
With as many as 21 states and Washington D.C. removing marijuana possession as a criminal offense, it only stands to reason that these offenses should not act as a roadblock – or worse, a penalty – for people trying to secure jobs so that they can successfully rejoin their communities.
There are over 70 million Americans with prior criminal convictions – including over 600,000 released annually from our prisons and jails, and over 4 million on probation and parole – who are potential employees.
Removing drug convictions from hiring decisions would provide millions with opportunities to enrich their lives by participating as a member of society while also filling labor gaps and strengthening local economies.
Changing background check practices to ensure they do not exclude people based on drug convictions is just one of the ways that a company can become a fair chance employer. And while making changes to institute more equitable hiring practices can be daunting, employers can learn from those already doing it, as well as from coalitions and organizations, like CEO, that have expertise in fair chance practices.
Indeed has shared its evolution on becoming a fair chance employer, especially with regards to background checks, to help others who are thinking about starting their own journey.
People coming home from incarceration have a lot of skills; they were just obtained in non-traditional ways. We should be developing workers with records in a way that strengthens the workforce and offers socio-economic mobility.
At CEO, for example, we offer opportunities for participants to gain their commercial driver’s license or learn basic information technology skills to unlock higher-paying, upwardly mobile jobs in key sectors of the economy.
When employers remove certain drug convictions, like marijuana possession, from background checks and hiring decisions, they are removing barriers to employment for millions of people in most places where it is no longer a crime. This benefits people who are trying to restart their lives after incarceration just as much as employers looking to enrich their workplace and fuel the economy.
Christopher Watler serves as The Center for Employment Opportunities’ Executive Vice President, overseeingCEO’s national fund development operations, communications initiatives, and various special projects dedicated to advancing CEO’s mission. He has over 30 years of experience in criminal justice reform and workforce development and holds a BS in political science from The State University of New York College at Purchase and an MPA from John Jay College.
Parisa Fatehi-Weeks serves as Senior Director of ESG for Indeed, as well as Board President
for the Workers Defense Project, an immigrant workers rights organization. Before Indeed, she
led the digital inclusion portfolio at Google.org. Parisa was born in Iran and grew up in Austin.
She is a graduate of UT-Austin, where she was student body president and received her B.A.,
J.D. and Masters in public affairs.
