Second-chance hiring isn’t as risky as employers may believe

There are certain preconceptions associated with hiring workers with criminal records, among them that it opens up employers to lawsuits. But a new report found that employers that do so are rarely found to be negligent in their hiring practices.

Second-chance hiring programs. Although “ban the box” laws, which eliminate or amend the requirement that job applicants disclose criminal records, have been passed in 26 states and Washington, DC, employment barriers for second-chance hires still exist. More than 600,000 Americans are released from prison each year, and many of them struggle to find work, despite advocates describing formerly incarcerated employees as loyal, hard workers.

“All our data tells us that many of these employees are extremely loyal, thankful for the company giving them a second chance, and do great work,” Hans Vestberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon, told SHRM. “You want [workers who are] loyal, lead your brand every day [and] lead your core values every day.”

Employers have low risk. The Legal Action Center, a nonprofit that fights discrimination against those with criminal records and other employment barriers, released a study in July examining whether employers who hired workers between 1974 and 2022 were liable for “negligent hiring,” or hiring someone “they knew, or should have known, was likely to harm others in the position for which they were hired.”

In the 48 years examined, the Second Chance Employment: Addressing Concerns About Negligent Hiring Liability report found that employers were responsible for the negligent hiring of a previously incarcerated person just 435 times. “Negligent hiring liability is virtually non-existent,” according to the report, and 97% of the 87 incidents that resulted in a judicial decision involved one of the following:motor vehicle operation, work with vulnerable populations, and access to customers’ homes or financial assets.

“Conviction records alone do not provide employers with the complete picture of what someone can offer a company,” Lewis Maltby, president and CEO of National Workrights Institute and principal author of the report, said in a press release. “The urgency of altering hiring practices and eliminating the stigma associated with a conviction record in the process grows every day as mass incarceration persists and the national labor shortage continues to strain our economy.”