Want to find more workers? Make it easier to hire people with criminal records.
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22 thoughts on “Want to find more workers? Make it easier to hire people with criminal records.”
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Noura Jackson was wrongfully convicted of her mother’s homicide and she shares how its hard for convicted felons to find gainful employment and she shares that criminal justice is designed to break you down and that its designed to make you fail.
Noura Jackson being interviewed by Jason Flom board member of the Innocence Project on Bloomberg news./Innocence Project’s Jason Flom on Criminal Justice Reform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYeV070wlgM
https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/court-criminal-appeals/opinions/2012/12/10/state-tennessee-v-noura-jackson
https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/jacksonnouraopn.pdf
https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/supreme-court/opinions/2014/08/22/state-tennessee-v-noura-jackson
https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/jacksonn_opn.pdf
I just saw this thread and want to post-even if a few days “late”.
In my experience, I have had the best success with franchisees and locally owned businesses. Most of the denials I have had with larger corporations is their (at least I have been told this) Human Resources department, along with their Legal department is scared of potential liability should “something” happen. Bond or no bond. Not going to name company names, but been told that repeatedly by some of the larger employers around.
So,…keep trying. Can be discouraging, but throw enough out there and you will get something. First one is the hardest. After that, once you have an employment record, it gets easier. Not easy. Easier.
I was released 2005 and upon my release I had about a year of parole to do so I spent that first year going to college. I was 29 at the time and it seemed like the right thing to do. 2 years later I got a degree an associate’s degree in graphic design and was lucky enough to land a job as a screen printer at a shop while I was going to college. The owner didn’t care about records really he just wanted people to work hard and he saw I was motivated by art so that helped. It’s been about 14 years since then and now I work for myself making signs, storefront graphics and screen printing from home. I don’t make a ton of money but I do all right for myself. I think the best thing to do if you have some form of criminal record is to learn a trade like welding or sign making. Something they can’t take away from you that is unique and needed. That way you can always have a way to attract an employer to you. And if no one will hire you then with a trade you have the ability to branch out on your own to make your own business.
On a side note something that was very ironic to me at the time was I used to screen print all the PE clothes and spirit clothes for the local 40 or 50 schools in 3 different counties. I also used to make all the police officers shirts for like their softball games and things like that. I used to have to sit down with the officers and they would describe what they want for a design for a shirt and they never really knew I had a record or at least they didn’t show it. They were always pretty respectful to me and I made sure they got what they wanted because they never did anything to me. I’m not a bitter person again somebody that doesn’t have anything to do with me.
The registry has caused me to lose almost every job I had. I did work for a while as a janitor cleaning banks. The owner was bonded so that covered me too. But he kept sending me to banks so far from my house to clean, that the round trip gas cost more than I made doing to cleaning.
What ever the contract cost was, I only got a small percentage. I think I got $75 a week to do one bank 5 nights a week. Took about 90 minutes to empty trash, mop, clean windows, clean all the counter, clean the bathrooms etc. That is $15 a night and it cost me $10 in gas to get there and back home.
Has anyone ever gotten disability because of being on the registry and unable to work? I’ve been looking for a job for 5 years. Only 1 offer in all that time. I’ve been told it’s because the first thing potential employers do is Google search the name of a prospective employee. Boom. The hit list pops up and that the end of it.
Maybe not “just” because you are on the registry, though one SSI agent told me that because the legal definition of a disability is anything that keeps you from obtaining and maintaining gainful employment, being a registered person meets that definition, but in my case, I had struggled with depression, anxiety disorders, and BPD even before I went down for my offense. Of course, being an RC has exacerbated my problems.
So I can’t say you would get it because of being an RC, but does registry status not cause you a variety of issues like PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety Disorders? Like nearly any physical ailment, people can get mentally ill later in life. Not every person struggles with mental illness their whole lives, but may experience an event that causes them to fall ill, like the stress of being subject to a myriad of draconian laws that change on the whims of victim-centric legislatures.
Derek, do you know how I can go about applying? I suffer from depression and anxiety disorders from all this. Can’t find and keep a job. Thanks
Consult with an attorney like Binder & Binder or Morgan & Morgan. They won’t take your case if they think they can’t win. They won’t charge you if they don’t win. If they do take your case don’t let them charge you over 25% of your back pay. I’m sure what the maximum amount they can charge but I’ve heard that by law they can’t charge over 25% of the back pay.