City rethinking criminal past for hiring

By AARON LEO
Staff writer
ConnPost Updated: 11/18/2008 11:50:11 PM EST

City rethinking criminal past for hiring - Topix

BRIDGEPORT -- People with criminal records would have a better shot at getting city jobs under a proposed policy change that would make the criminal background portion of the Civil Service application a separate question.

Civil Service applicants with records are now judged on a case-by-case basis, but the Civil Service Commission last Thursday received a sample application from Nadine Nevins, a lawyer with Connecticut Legal Services, that would move the criminal background question to one of the last steps in the hiring process.

Ralph Jacobs, the city's personnel director, said the commission accepted the sample for consideration and could have a proposal crafted in three months. Any policy change would also have to be approved by the City Council.

For now, Jacobs said, his goal is to "find a way to get all the other stakeholders involved" in making a new policy. Separating the criminal background question from the overall application would first allow assessment of applicants based on their skills, he said.

A criminal background check is conducted later, and hiring depends on the nature and severity of the crime and when it was committed, Jacobs said.

Today, some city job applicants may feel discouraged from applying because they fear rejection based on admitting their criminal history in a general way, he said.

Commission member Rosa Correa supported a separate form.

"I think people deserve a second chance," she said.

"Employment is by far the most important way people feel they're a contributing member of society." She added, however, that she understands opponents' concerns.

For three years, the city has struggled with the question of hiring people with criminal backgrounds, especially felons. It caused controversy when several former felons were hired as firefighters in the last few years, over Jacobs' opposition.

A felony is a serious crime, not necessarily violent, that carries at least a year in prison. Felons can't be police officers because they are not allowed to carry firearms under state law. For nearly 70 years the city had an unofficial policy of not hiring former felons as firefighters, but Jacobs scrapped that in 2005 because it could not be enforced.

It isn't the first time Nevins has asked the city to hire people with criminal records. In 2007, she called for a city ordinance that would require assessing candidates based on their skills and making the background check the last step.