labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Ex-convicts and others with criminal convictions are the subject of a new workplace poster in New York State.

The poster outlines what is known as Article 23 A of the New York Correction Law. The article, signed into law by New York’s Governor David Paterson, outlines the law as it applies to hiring of people with criminal records.

Under the law, New York employers are legally allowed to consider the conviction of a job-hunter as a negative issue when deciding on hiring, provided the crime the candidate was convicted for relates directly to the job or the license sought.

However, if the crime does not directly relate to the job, the employer cannot consider it during the hiring process. The new law makes it illegal discrimination to do so.

As an example, if an accountant had been convicted of embezzling from the bank in which he worked, another bank need not hire him. On the other hand, if this same accountant had been convicted, not of embezzlement, but of selling drugs, under the new law the employer is not permitted to consider that conviction when making a hiring decision.

Whenever an applicant with a criminal record is refused a job, the employer (more…)