Aliyya Swaby Photo
Julius Dennis.
Julius Dennis has a degree in social work but cannot find a job helping people — because, he believes, potential employers see has has a criminal conviction from 25 years ago.
Dennis was among dozens who flooded Career High School Thursday night to testify before the state Labor and Public Employees Committee in favor of “banning the box,” allowing convicted felons a greater chance at gainful employment.
The proposed House Bill 5237 would prevent employers from requiring job applicants to disclose criminal history before receiving a conditional offer of employment.
State committee members heard public comment from government officials and community organizers on 15 different labor-related bills Thursday. More than 80 individuals total signed up to speak.
New Haven passed its own “ban the box” measure in 2009 — making it the second city in the state to do so.
Committee Co-Chair State Sen. Edwin Gomes revealed his position early on.
“You definitely have a friend in me,” he told Mayor Toni Harp, who testified in support of the bill, at the start of the hearing.
Later he explained that he has a felony in his record, from 1953 in Cheshire. When he got out of prison, he told himself, “‘I got to get myself together.’” He applied to the Marines and then the Army, which both rejected him because of his record.
He “sloughed to get menial jobs.” Finally, when he had children and had settled down, he was drafted.
State Sen. Gomes: System robs and beats people down.
“I got drafted by the military that refused me,” he said. When he reminded them of his felony, they said they would waive it, “not for my purpose, but for theirs,” Gomes said.
“That is a demonstration of how people get beat up by the system after they pay their debt to society,” he said. “It’s a system that robs you of everything after they beat the hell out of you.”
Dennis grew up in several neighborhoods in New Haven, including the Hill and Newhallville, before turning himself in for first-degree sexual assault in 1991, he said. He was in prison until 1993. When he got out, he enrolled in Southern Connecticut State University, where he met Clifton Graves, current director of the city’s Fresh Start prison re-entry program.
Fresh Start has helped him “ready myself for employment,” he said. “I would like to see this box move out of the way.” He said he regrets what he did and wants to give back to the community, by working with other people trying to re-enter the community after prison.
Though his sexual assault conviction will keep him on the state registry, Dennis said, he supports “ban the box” for all of the young people in the state with convictions who need jobs and would otherwise turn to crime.
The bill would “remove them from second-class citizenship,” Graves said to the committee.
McKay got a 2nd chance.
Blaine McKay is an example of that in action. He got involved with Fresh Start after leaving prison, convinced by others in his halfway house who told him it would be a smart plan to get his life in gear. Someone at the program connected him with workers at the city’s Parks, Recreation and Trees Department for a seasonal job.
That tided him over financially, so he was able to keep applying for full-time jobs.
Finally he “got a hit” with the city’s transit department and became a parking enforcement officer a year ago last month. By October, he said, he should have custody of his 6‑year-old daughter.
“Thank God for the city of New Haven taking the lead on this,” he said.
Denver: Protect the elderly.
David Denver, general counsel for the Companions & Homemakers home-care agency, testified in opposition to the bill. He said it would bring risk for the vulnerable elderly population served by the home-care industry. People convicted of assaulting an elderly person more than five years ago would hypothetically be able to get another job taking care of elderly people, if the bill were passed, he said.
He said he worries home-care companies would not have enough flexibility under the proposed bill to protect their clients. And he said the bill would violate a current law that requires those companies to perform background checks on potential employees.
Gomes said the law was not intended to violate that existing law or prevent protection of the elderly.
“The bill doesn’t wipe out background checks,” he said. It says employers have to check for criminal backgrounds after a conditional offer of employment.
Cheryl Sharp, deputy director of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO), testified soon after to argue that her commission be charged with enforcing the bill, instead of the Department of Labor. The CHRO already investigates and litigates complaints in which the state of Connecticut is accused of discrimination based on criminal conviction.
Denver’s claim that certain companies would not have enough leeway in the law to protect their clients is incorrect, she said.
An existing law preventing state agencies from discriminating based on criminal conviction allows state employers to take three factors into account after extending an initial employment offer:
• The nature of the person’s crime and its relevance to the job
• The degree of rehabilitation of the convicted person
• The amount of time that elapsed since the conviction or release
Including similar language in the current proposed bill and placing it under CHRO purview would strengthen it for everyone, she said.
Who cares if they ban the box. They still will not hire you.