President Obama has issued a memo to agencies telling them to review their procedures for conducting a suitability determination for a job applicant with a criminal record.
Suitability determinations evaluate character and conduct and are to consider the relevance of any past criminal conduct to the job; the nature, seriousness, recency, and circumstances of any criminal conduct; the age of the individual at the time of the conduct; contributing societal conditions; and whether any efforts have been made toward rehabilitation.
The memo also directs agencies with discretion to grant or deny occupational licenses to revise their procedures, consistent with the need to protect public safety, to ensure that a criminal record is not an automatic disqualifier and that the determination takes into account:
* the nature and seriousness of the conduct resulting in the criminal record, including the circumstances surrounding the conduct and contributing societal conditions and the age of the individual at the time of the conduct;
* the time that has passed since the individual’s arrest, adjudication, or conviction, or the completion of the individual’s sentence, and the absence or presence of rehabilitation efforts; and
* the nature of the occupation requiring a license, including whether the criminal record is directly related to the occupation, whether the occupation offers the opportunity for the same or a similar offense to occur, and whether circumstances leading to the conviction will recur in the occupation.
